


Pebbles in the Flower Garden

by Quidsuke



Category: Original Work
Genre: Family, Fighting, Fights, Friendship, Gang, Gangs, Know, Love, Romance, Street, Switchblade, WIN, WINS, War, Wars, Winner, Winners, fight, friend, friends - Freeform, knowing, mafia, switchblades
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-01-23 02:29:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 35
Words: 28,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21312688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quidsuke/pseuds/Quidsuke
Summary: Trish Smith is running away from an abusive household. She has nothing left and curses the name her father gave her by simply going as "Trish." She soon meets up with James whom introduces her to the gang he's apart of. Will Trish be able to find true happiness? Will she ever be able call anyone "family" ever again? This is the second book in the Mapletree, North Dakota series.





	1. Welcome to the Mafia Part 1

Useless. I'm nothing but useless. No one cares for me. Why can't I be loved? No one is ever there for me. So I'm running away from home. For years now I've been growing up in an abusive household. My father worked my mother to death by beating her and making her take care of me by herself; once she died eight years ago (when I was nine years old) I've never had any place to go to. So please, someone, anyone, just help me.

My name is Trish Smith; however, I'll never respect my father's surname. No, from now on, I'll refer to myself simply as "Trish." A new name will come to me eventually. So, this begs the question: just where exactly am I? I have no idea. I've never been to downtown Mapletree, North Dakota before. I go down to the subway. People are there right? Who is there? I don't know. I go down underground; under the subway station, I see an old homeless man. Will I find peace with him? He has his jacket on over his legs. I go up to him. Something's shaking under his jacket. Wait... No... He's not... Jesus! His hand is... Yeah... I guess he has no where else to go...

After going back above ground, I see a kid I usually see that frequents the streets. He's about sixteen, just a year younger than me. I go over to him. As I go towards him, he goes into an alleyway; I follow him into it. After I round the corner, I get caught in an arm hold while he holds a switchblade across my throat.

"What do you want?" he shouts.

"Nothing. I have nothing. I want something. I have no one. I need someone, anyone," I sheepishly say as I don't care about my fate.

The kid lowers his grasp on me and looks me over and says to me, "well, I guess I'll take you in."

"Take me in?" I ask.

The kid looks around to see if anyone is looking at him. After he checks that no one is there, he tells me, "listen. My name is James. I don't know who you are, but if you truly have nowhere to go, I can take you in." Really? Thank god! "However, you must know that I'm in a gang. There are many gangs in this city and if one angers anyone of us, we all must fight as a whole. No buts about it. Do you understand?" I nod my head. "Let me make it sure that I'm only taking you in because I also have nothing and no one—only the gang; we are like a family—that is if you hang around the right people. Once we get to our meeting place, I'll introduce them to you."

Thank you. I have someone. I found someone. What was his name? "James." I like that name. James looks outside the alley to make sure it's clear. He then looks at me with a questioning face. Oh god! Have I been looking at him? For how long? I hope he doesn't think I like him or anything... Well, anyways, I'll follow this "James" and hopefully have a better life.

* * * * *

Upon arriving at the "place" I ask, "where is everyone?"

"Huh? Do you think we live in the movies? Not everyone is gonna be lined up here perfectly waiting to be seen to only then inexplicably never do said thing for the rest of the film."

"Sorry," I mutter under my breath.

"Hey now, please don't take offense to that. That's how we talk around here," he says as he laughs.

"Holy shit! You picked up a girl! I never knew you'd have it in you! Congrats man!" says a smaller boy coming up to us.

"Oh, shut up, would ya?" James shouts at this boy.

The boy then lowers the finger he pointed with and lowers his head. He then looks up and pulls himself together as if he took a shot of cocaine. "Then who is it?" He asks.

"She's gonna be joining our gang," says James.

"Holy sh-uhh, wow. A girl!"

"Yeah. Good luck," James says.

"Also, please treat her like a person. Not some object."

"Well, I was just-"

"Well, anyways, this is Sam; he's only fourteen—the youngest in our gang." That explains that...

"Nice to meet you," Sam says as he bows.

"Uh... yeah... you too," is all I can think to say. Is this how he thinks he'll pick up women? I guess I'm one of the only of his kind...

James all of a sudden pulls out his switchblade and holds it out in front of a person behind him. Who is this? I'm frozen with fear. Is this how my life will end? Like this? Oh god-

"Wuahahahah," laughs James. Huh? "I told you not to do that! What if I killed you, Bach!"

"Don't worry," he says as he looks at his hand. "Well, I guess you did get me, haha," Bach says as he holds out his hand with a mild slash mark on it. "I only do it because I know you know how to hold back, haha." Who are these people? How much has Bach gone through to not feel anything from a cut? Did I truly have it bad? I better get out of here; I'll never be welcomed here with my mild case-

"It's OK," James tells me. "Everyone here has their own reason for being here. It doesn't matter how much you've been scarred. All that matters is that you have been scarred—which is what will bring us together. We're not welcomed anywhere in society due to how others have treated us; we're the rejects of this world. Once we go to the street, we can't leave the street. We're like the pebbles in a flower garden—we are there, just not seen due to the flowers masking ourselves. Will you join us? Will you be one with us? We will be here for you if and only if you are here for us. Do you understand?" I nod. "Well then, come along for the ride!"


	2. Welcome to the Mafia Part 2

I, Trish, joined a gang. This gang happens to be the red gang; there are many different gangs in Mapletree, North Dakota; however, they don't really require any form of identification. I feel great now. I feel like I finally have people I can relate to. We have a meeting place in the abandoned gas station next to Mapletree Bank. The windows are boarded up from the outside; at the door, you have to lift up a board that slides up and over and you have to lower your head to enter—it's very tedious. Once inside, there is another person.

"Hello Hunter!" James says. "We've got another member! Also, in case you cared, she's a girl; however, she's, as I'm told, seventeen—so, not for you, haha."

He does seem a little older than the other members. "He's twenty two years old in case you were wondering," James tells me. Hunter seems to be cool, calm, and collective while sitting on a crate in the gas station.

"So this is it, huh?" I ask.

"You bitch!" shouts Sam as I shockingly look at him. "You dare make fun of our living environment? Then why don't you go back to your old-"

"Enough!" shouts James. "You idiot! That's no where close to what she meant." Bach begins to laugh. I find myself snickering.

"It's fine. There's no way I'd let that affect me," I say as I put on a fake smile, which I've grown accustomed to doing on the fly. My mom used to tell me, before she died, that I will eventually find a family. Is this it? I hope. These people are starting to grow on me. Especially James.

Everyone finds their seats and I just stand there waiting for instructions.

"Boo!" Hunter scares me. "Haha, we're not gonna bite ya! Sit wherever you want. Keep in mind though, I've got my eye on you." Strange. Why do these people not seem to trust me?

"Well, we might as well tell her everything," says James.

"How? An outsider?" says Sam. "How will she help? What will she do? I don't trust her one bit. Right Bach?"

"I actually trust James on this one," replies Bach.

"Hunter? I can't be alone on this one, right?"

Hunter says, "whatever. If it'll make ya shut up, then yes."

"But I want to know for sure!"

"All right," starts James. "I have asked her questions and without-a-doubt she's telling the truth. So Trish, we plan on assassinating our boss. After all-oh wait! Yeah, sorry, but I lied. We're actually apart of the mafia, hahaha. They trust me as a squad leader, the people who take orders from the boss, with guarding this area. Basically, we take money for protection and I'm the best for this area. Also, I get to recruit anyone under me that I want to!" Oh oh oh no. What have I gotten myself into? It's too late now. I must continue forward. Wait, hold on. Taking out the boss? If we do, then what?

"Our reason for taking out the boss is personal, honestly," says James as he pauses as if he's lost in recollection. "So, you joined just on time. We actually were about to start our crusade tomorrow!" Now? So sudden? If it's for a happier time for me, I'll do anything. These people, or at least James, are the only people that have extended their hands out for me to reach. I'm glad. I'll gladly take any request from James that he gives me!


	3. Welcome to the Mafia Part 3

James went over the plan; however, it is very scarce because no one actually knows who the real boss is. The only person who knows the true identity of the boss is his communicator that gives the squad leaders their orders when need be. This, this is my new family—hopefully. Also, the day of the assassination has started. James has an undisclosed meeting with the boss at the church on the North side of town.

"Hunter?" asks James. "How long will it take to get there on foot?"

"Ahh... Since we're on the Southern side of town and the Church is in the Northernmost part of town. I'd say~~~ about... three days."

"All right. We'll leave now. We'll be there...," James says as he looks at the torn up calendar on the wall, "on Friday, April 5th." We then leave for the church.

Once outside, there is a group of people on the other side of the street who glance at us as we exit the gas station.

"Those people are in an actual gang. Just ignore 'em," James tells me as we head off. The gang soon starts trailing behind us.

Bach asks James, "what shall we do with the people tailing us?"

"Just ignore them for now. Wait for them to make a move. We don't want a full scale attack on us now."

We step around the corner to find a big, tall, threatening man that looks as if he could squash any of us if he so chooses to sit on us.

"So, I hear ya plan on takin' out tha mafia boss?"

"Huh?" James asks in theater questioning. "What do you mean? We're just passing through here-"

"Ah overhear ya las' night! Ya plan 'n it, aren't ya?" As these events transpire, the group from earlier are now situated right behind us in a pincer attack. Breath. Breath in the air. I think to myself as to not get discouraged.

"Aw. Wat a pwetty wittle girly you 'ave there!" Says the brute as he reaches out towards me. James then swiftly takes out his switchblade and slashes the man.

"Back off! Don't you dare touch any of us, dammit! What do you, a gangster, plan on doing with us in the mafia?"

"Ah don' wanna ge' in da mafia an' more! I tol' ya guys! These guy' are a bad!"

I hear one of the gang members swear to himself on how they shouldn't've trusted this man. Then James picks up a lead pipe and hands it to me and tells me to protect myself and how I must not fight, but escape.

As the gang starts closing in on us, Bach takes out his switchblade as one of the gang members comes at him with a baseball bat. The baseball bat wielder swings, Bach evades, then stabs the guy in the throat. Did he just kill him? Do I have to kill people? How? The other gang members, who about triple us, all start attacking at once along with the brute. I'm gonna die, aren't I? There's no way that the five of us will be able to fend off all of them, right? Then, like an angel descending from heaven, a police car sounds its sirens and quickly speeds his way down the street up to us. Just as this is happening, the gang members freeze and run away. James then grabs my hand and flees with us; it's not illegal to be apart of the mafia, or so I was told earlier; however, if you kill someone in front of a cop, just as Bach did, you know you're going to jail.

As we're running, I can see the cop chasing the gang members instead of us. Thank god. I don't want to end up in jail, or at least one of my family members just after meeting them. That would be terrible! As we are running, James decides to slow down as he sees an old man talking to someone in a black coat. The old man seems to be scowling in his lap.

"I'll take care of this," says Bach.

"That old man over there," James explains to me, "is one of our most loyal customers. He's awful generous about his donations for protection. You see, his eyesight and hearing has rather downgraded as of late, so he uses his last dollars he's acquired earlier in his life for his protection. He's actually a really good man. That's why we want to protect him at all costs."

As James ends his explanation, Bach, with us relatively tailing him, goes up to the man in the black coat and says in a very stern and threatening tone, "what are you doing here? You have two choices: you either leave right now and never bother us again, or I'll kill you right here. If you choose the former, I'll kill you if I even see you in the same playing field as this man."

The guy in the black coat, with a face of fear, runs away.

"Thank you," says the old man.

Bach then asks, "no problem. What did that guy want anyway?"

The old man then says, "he's a loan shark; he's where I get all of my money for my protection. I have no way of repaying it back, and since I'm almost a goner, I decided that I'll just let it build up until I die and never have to pay it, hahah."

This turned Bach's face red with anger. He then held up his fist as if contemplating whether to swing or not. He then punched the old man and screamed, "you dumbass! After you die we'll have to pay for it, dammit! Why? Why would you do this? You should never invest in a loan shark; at least go with the bank!'

Bach finds himself standing over a helpless old man with blood running out of his nose. He then looks around to see a bunch of people looking at him. James then goes over and says to Bach, "let's go. We'll never give him protection again." The old man then quivers in fear. How cold are these people? How will they just leave an innocent old man here to die? All for money?

"If we have loan sharks after us, then we'll barely be able to get to the boss!" exclaims Bach.

"I know. That's why we must bring this old man to safety until we accomplish our goal," replies James. Bach then sighs and agrees with James.

"So, let me get this straight! You're gonna bring this 'traitor' to protection? Why? What good would that do?"

"Sam," answers Hunter. "You're far too young to understand complicated things like this."

"But-," Sam continues then sheepishly lowers his head in sadness as if he were a bipolar patient. "Fine. I guess we can do it...," Sam says as he gets the same burst of usual energy.

"Alright, James," Hunter tells James, "delay our trip about another two days."

"OK. Now we'll be there on... Sunday, April 7th."

"That's church day! There will be people there!" exclaims Sam.

James then replies with, "I do realize that. That will make it extra hard; however, we must persevere and continue onward. Now, we must deliver this man to protection, and then, we will go to the boss."


	4. Operation: Take Out the Boss Part 1

All I want is to be next to my new family—they are my protectors. What can anyone do that will hinder this? After all, no one should get in our way; we all love each other. So, please. No one, not anyone, please no one take this away from me.

It is currently night time as the old man and the rest of us are talking in an abandoned building under a candle that barely has any fume left which was found laying out back.

"So, Trish, this is David. He's-well, he was our most loyal customer; however, now our only objective with him is to keep him alive until we reach our goal." Are these guys serious? How can they take their frustrations out on this poor old man? All he wants is protection, right? So I ask James, "do we really have to leave this old man to die?"

"Watch it!" Sam butts in. "I haven't trusted you one bit! I have no idea what James wants to do with a random person on the street!"

Hunter then scolds Sam like usual and out comes the obligatory sudden shift in emotions from Sam. "Now," Hunter continues, "now we'll let James explain to Trish here why we would do such a thing. You need to keep in mind that Trish is no where as used to living in the mafia as you." It's true. I don't know anything about what it's like. But, does Sam really have to be so rude? I know he's only fourteen. But, why?

"Oh! I just remembered! We usually celebrate my birthday somewhere around this time...," exclaims Sam.

"That's right. It's on the 7th," replies Hunter. "The day we take out the boss. Well, it'll be a nice birthday present, haha... However, you're still disregarding the fact that James was just about to explain the situation to Trish—which you just so happened to interrupt..."

After Sam apologizes, James begins to explain, "well, you see Trish... It's also hard for me as well. I'm sure it's hard for the rest of us as well; however, it has to be the hardest on me for I'm too soft. Ever since I had to kill my father when I walked in his house to catch him cheating on my mom whom was away in the army, which was only the straw that broke the camel's back for how much he used to drunkenly beat me-" he stopped with a look of a deer in the headlights shooting across his face. Man. Every person here has a dark backstory! It's as if I'm reading a book! However, it's still different; unlike a book, where you get lost in another world (which books helped me escape mine), here, you just don't speak about your past—when you join James' squad, your past is wiped clean and from there you are judged based on how you go on from there.

Bach apologetically looks at James while Hunter says, "it's OK. No one here will question you for anything about yourself. We are here for you, now and always. Don't be ashamed; we all understand what it's like to go through immense amounts of trauma; no matter how big or small, it doesn't matter; the only thing that matters is that we are able to sympathize with each other and share each other's empathy."

This whole time James is frozen with a dead face, which is something I've never seen him pull off before. After Hunter finishes his speech, James pauses for a few seconds then continues what he originally wanted to tell me.

"Well... you see...," suddenly, the original wonderful James that I'm used to comes back to life. "Since we are in the mafia, money is everything; if you don't repay any money you borrowed, you must pay it back without question, either you or family or friends—someone must pay it back. Loan sharks are no different. They will thrash out at anyone, and are even known to challenge the mafia themselves! The mafia must pay the debt to the loan sharks. Hey! David!" James says as he begins to ask the old man a question. "David! How long have you been using a loan shark to pay for your protection?"

"Let's see...," David, the old man, begins to calculate in his feeble old mind. "So, for the two years you've been here, and for the seven-ish previous years-"

"So, you've been using our group for the past nine years?" James shouts at David.

Before the old man can answer, James tells me, "this must be millions! The only reason I took over this area was because the entire previous squad mysteriously vanished; however, I've heard stories about loan sharks. When they don't receive proper payment, they take out the entire mafia squad that covers that area! That's what must've happened to them! This is bad... At least we'll be prepared this time... Also, the boss doesn't do anything with these "vanishes" and just assigns a new squad leader—which is how I happened to become one."

KRASHCHTH is what makes everyone jump on their feet, switchblades drawn, to see the second floor building window's glass shattered all over the floor with a note taped to a rock.

"Hmm, must be delivery," observes Hunter. James then goes over to it, takes off the note, then reads it. After reading the note, James' eyes seem to sink deep into their sockets.

"What does it say?" asks Sam.

Hunter then tells him, "c'mon! You know that we can't give information to outsiders-"

"It's OK," James says as he regains himself. "It just says that I have to bring everyone with us to the church. Excluding David obviously." What were those sunken eyes about? I chose not to question, which I'm used to doing with my once "father" and chalked it up to being a figment of my imagination.

"All right," says James. "Tomorrow we'll leave here and take David to protection. Since we are basically moving away from our destination, Hunter was right to add an extra two days to our trip."


	5. Operation: Take Out The Boss Part 2

Today is Wednesday, April 3rd. It's been two days since I ran away from home and joined the mafia. I guess a lot can happen in a short amount of time, haha. Ah, it finally feels good to be able to smile and laugh at last. Thank god for the life ahead of me. I don't even care about the conversation I had with Hunter last night, who was staying up the be the last person to go to sleep, which as I'm told is customary in the squad. He told me that I have no idea what it's like to be in the mafia and definitely have no idea what dangers lie ahead—stuff I'll never be able to imagine. But I don't care; not one bit, I told him. As long as I have people that actually care for me, then I'd rather be in that place, because I'd rather die than go back to my "father's" place again. Ugh, I can barely force myself to call him that. Hunter smiled and seemingly understood and told me that maybe I'm not that bad after all. What did he mean by that last night? Sure, Sam doesn't trust me yet, but does Hunter not trust me as well? He seems like he does. Or does he come off that way to only stab you in the back later? I need to know. However, I didn't want to ask anymore questions so I went to sleep after that.

"There's that guy in the black coat again," Bach says ever so calmly. How can he be so calm in a situation like this? I want to know. I need to know what happened to him. How can someone be so scarred that any amount of danger they're put in doesn't even have the slightest dent on their instincts? However, I won't ask due to the golden rule in our squad—never ask or bring up another's life before joining unless they and only they bring it up themselves.

"Thanks for the heads up; however, like always, let him make the first move," replies James.

As we continue our way forward, we eventually arrive at our destination.

"Keep walking," James says as he shows no signs of slowing down or hesitation. "We don't want them knowing where David is."

"The black coat guy disappeared. I can't seem to spot him," says Sam.

"See," Hunter replies. "I always knew you had something useful in ya, haha!"

"Shut up. I'm really useful! After all, I am the one who saved your life and brought you into our gang, remember?" Huh? The littlest saved the biggest? Although only by age. Bach is the biggest in size, although nowhere close to being overweight, despite being the second oldest at nineteen.

"Haha. That's great! You must not be that useful because you already forgot that I drove into you to not bring that stuff up unless I say it, remember?" Hunter says to Sam as he winks.

"Yeah, piss off," Sam says as he rolls his eyes which makes Hunter laugh.

"Hold on," I begin to ask. "If you were a squad leader for two years, and only squad leaders are able to recruit people, does that mean that you've recruited everyone here in the past two years?"

"Haha! I like it!" laughs James then bumps his elbow on Sam and jokingly says to him, "I guess she's a detective. She's not useless after all, haha!" After Sam lowers his head in embarrassment, I wonder what possessed James to make fun of me like that? It kinda... hurt... Oh, yeah! That's right! If I remember correctly, James told me that's just how they joke around. So does that mean, since they're joking around like usual, accept me as one of their own? I hope so! I never felt better after leaving my house.

"Wait!" I loudly say. I then look around to see if anyone was looking at me due to the nature of how loud I said it. Luckily, no one was, so I began with a whisper and said, "but where is the black coat guy at? Ever since we started talking, I lost track of him."

"Oh... you're right. I lost sight of him too!" Sam adds.

James then says to calm the situation, "like usual, let's just continue like-"

CLICK. We all freeze as the guy in the black coat holds a gun up behind our backs. The guy then demands that we hand over "the old man" and that he "has business with him."

Bach then smiles and says, "very well, just take him then." As David quivers in fear, I wonder how Bach is able to be so calm, even with a gun pointed directly at him.

The black coat guy, after collecting his composure from the shock of such compliance, points his gun at us and forces David to come over to him. The guy keeps his gun on us until he's at a safe distance. He doesn't take an eye off of us (as we're just quietly standing there) and walks away with David.

"Ooh. I see you're looking at me? How cute," Bach says to me. Huh? What's his problem? Does he think that I like him? I only see him as family—nothing more. Or is he... joking around? Most likely. So I say to him that I couldn't help but look at his lack for our care by not taking the situation seriously. He then laughs and congratulates me for taking it good. Man. I'm starting to like these people even more now!


	6. Operation: Take Out the Boss Part 3

"What will we do about David?" I ask.

"We'll just leave him there; after all, I don't think that he would've been completely safe at his apartment, hahah," says Bach. Hah, protection? His apartment? Maybe David's old age got to him? Well, he didn't pay his debt to the loan sharks and forced it on us, so that's his own fault. I guess all that's left is to go to the boss...

* * * * *

The date is now Sunday, April 7th. Today is the day we take out the boss. It is also Sam's birthday! I wished him a happy fifteenth birthday earlier today and he blushed, hah. Anyways, we are currently outside of the church.

"All right," James begins with his usual opener. "Only Trish and I are gonna go in. Got it?"

"But why Trish? What will she do?" asks Sam.

"Oh, what's wrong?" asks Hunter. "You don't want your girlfriend to go in there?" It's true that in the past few days Sam has been a little nicer to me; however, I laugh it off because there's no way that-and... now he's blushing again.

"C-c-c-c'mon m-m-m-man... y-you know that I don't like..."

"You should just stop before you embarrass yourself any further," Bach chimes in.

"Why are you guys so rude to Sam?" I ask.

"Ooh!" They all say. So I ask again but more sterner.

Then Sam, seemingly stealing all of the world's men's collective confidence at once, shouts at me, "that's how this works! I make fun of them and I let them make fun of me in return! After all, when it's them doing it, it's nowhere near the emotional abuse I've suffered! I know how to handle it and bring myself up! I can do it! That's what brings us together! That's all we know! That's all we've been told! The only thing we know how to do is abuse! Some more than the others, so we just joke the only way we know how to because that's the only way we know! Since we've endured and seen it all, each one of us, our only way of joking around is our only way of joking around! It doesn't mean anything to us anymore! We've given up on feeling! We only feel for each other!"

Oh, what spark did I light within Sam? I'm sorry is what I want to say, but instead, I just smile and look at him which makes him blush once again, which calms him. I've now found another goal in this group other than to just be here: bring pure happiness to our group. No bad tasting jokes. I don't like to see Sam down like that—even if he snaps out of it right away. My purpose in this life is to bring about the happiness that people never had.

"Well then," James begins. "Sam, Bach, Hunter, you all stay here while Trish... while Trish," James seems to not be able to get out what he wants to say. "While Trish and I go meet the boss. We are meeting in the church basement. As you can see, the clock outside the church reads 11:49. That should give us enough time to begin our plan. Remember, once the church bell strikes noon, when service starts, you three will come down to the basement and fulfill your parts of the plan. Everyone good?"

After everyone agrees that they're good, James and I enter the building. James seems to be sweating and growing more and more nervous as we go in. What's up with him? Why's he so nervous? We then go down the stairs to the basement. Before we go through the door, James seemingly looks at me with a face that screams "I am sorry." Sorry for what? What's beyond this door? I must find out. Then James opens the door and he walks in. I follow. No... he couldn't've... he... he's... he's here... But how? Who let him here? Where's the mafia boss? Is this him? No? It can't be him. How?

"Well hello, my little Trish," says the boss.

"Don't you ever dare to speak like that in front of me ever again, dammit!"

The boss then replies with, "why? That's not a decent way at all to treat your own father."


	7. Operation: Take Out the Boss Part 4

In my world, in my own world—the world that I've been building for the past week has all been a lie. I was blissfully going about this city as part of the mafia, only for my own dad to be the boss—the person I have to take out. Wait. Take out. I smirk.

"I see you've brought my daughter. Thank you," says the boss.

"Yes, just like you ordered," James responds. James? James planned this to happen? What about taking out the boss? Please. Am I truly alone in this world?

"Trish, come to me now," the boss commands.

"Never!" I exclaim.

"James! Bring her! NOW!" I turn to look at James. He seemingly doesn't know what to do.

"Fine," he settles on as he takes a deep breath. James then walks up to me, facing away from the boss, and says in a voice that only I can hear, "trust me." Can I really though? I guess I must. Afterall, I did trust him the most up to this point.

He then grabs my wrist and pulls me to where the mafia boss is. He's situated up on the stadium that's used for shows. James takes me to the stairs and leads me up them.

"Trish!" yells a familiar voice. "James and the rest of them are planning on giving you to the boss! Run!" Sam says, running into the room with Bach and Hunter chasing after him.

The boss then looks at James and I on the staircase as Sam stops while the other two catch up with him.

"Very well," says the boss in an understanding observation of the situation. He then turns around to use the side exit on the opposite end of the staircase to escape from the situation.

"You dumbass, Sam!" shouts James. "This is why we didn't tell you the full plan! To make Trish escape her newfound happiness was ideal. However, I knew you'd blabber your mouth once you heard our objective!"

"So... are you giving Trish away?" Sam asks.

"What? No? Are you crazy? Why do you think-of course I wouldn't!" James lets out in the biggest amalgamation of anger and confusion one could muster up. "Why did you guys tell him?"

Bach answers with, "I thought he better know what's up." James nods in agreement. "However, this little twerp decided to high tail it out of there before we were able to finish talking to him..."

Hunter then says, "hey! Don't look at me! He wouln't've been here if I would've been able to stop him."

"Damn!" James says out loud. "This foils our entire plan! Trish came to us at just the perfect time as well! We were supposed to take out the boss while using her as the reason for taking her here! And you out and ruined it Sam!"

How am I supposed to take in all of this information? I don't know how to... They were gonna use me as the reason for taking me in? Am I even welcomed here like I thought? Is Sam the only person that really cares about me?

"Trish!" says a voice, "Trish! Snap out of it!" as I regain my senses, I recognize the voice—it belongs to James. "We never meant any harm. Sure, we were planning on taking out the boss before; however, I got word that you were misbehaving from the boss and looked as if you were going to run away. So he sent us a picture, which Sam was not able to see, so I knew it was you when I first met you; however, we now like you. We understand each other. We want you to be apart of our squad-no, apart of our mafia."

This warms me up. So they still do care about me? That's definitely good. These past few minutes were more miserable and worse than anything the boss put me through before.

"Well, I guess we must make a new plan," James begins again. "And before we can do that, Trish, I must tell you what happened between your dad-oh, I'm very sorry-I mean what happened to the soon to be ex boss and I in the past." Oh great! This is the first thing I wanted to know when meeting these people! Thank god!

"So...," James starts. "It all began with..."


	8. Operation: Take Out the Boss Part 5

This is the moment I've been waiting for—to hear why each member is here. Right now James is about to explain his situation. The other day he did let it slip that he killed his father. How old was he? Did the situation with the boss occur before or after?

"Are you gonna listen or are you gonna keep on fantasizing about me?" James annoyingly asks.

"Oh. Well-well-" I stutter and then for the curse to be broken by Hunter.

"Hey. Look at that Sam! James made her blush! Now you have some competition!"

"Hey now!" protests Sam as I look towards the ground.

"Alright," James begins once again. "I guess I'll have to start over and-"

"Start over?" Sam exclaims. "Trish should've been paying attention! Just continue and-"

"Sam! This isn't the time! Just stop! Would you! Anyways, it-ugh. All right, I'm sorry Sam. I didn't mean to thrash out at you like that. It's just that I can't seem to keep my composure." Sam's eyes then brighten up as he looks at James in awe. I guess everyone one here does look up to James like I do.

"All right," James starts. "I've already accidentally told you about how I killed my father because he cheated on my mom while she was in the army on top of him beating me." James then shifts his body. "I was nine years old at the time and it was the angriest that I've ever been in my life. I was fuming. My mother was the only thing that I had going for me; however, she went to the military to pay off her student loans that she couldn't pay because she wanted to find a better place for me. I ran and ran and ran. Never looked back. I then took to living in the streets. It was miserable. I had nothing. Barely any food; I had no one. Then, after two years on one fateful day, which at the time I thought was the best day of my life, the boss stood in front of me. It was the most beautiful image I could ever imagine in my life up to that point. Nothing came between us after that. He raised me for the next two years until my mother came back after her four year deployment. He used his powers as the mafia boss to excuse my law breaking. When my mother did come back, it'll never leave my head how it played out. I often wake up multiple times during the night just thinking about this. When my mom noticed I was being raised by the boss, she was in shock. After regaining her composure, before she could take me back, the boss asked her how she'll pay for her loans she pulled from the mafia that she used for her student loans. She explained how she didn't have any way to pay him right now. The boss then explained how it's been well over six years now, which was well over the return date, and she better pay up right now. She then protested that most of that time she was in the army so how could she've paid him? After she couldn't come up with the money, the boss asked her if she'd like to join them to repay the money. After she for sure declined the offer with no backing out of her refusal, the boss pulled out his pistol and shot her in the head right then and there—right in front of me. My entire world shattered at that moment. He then turned to me, a now thirteen year old, and asked if I wanted to join the mafia. Not wanting to suffer the same fate, I accepted. Over the next year I steadily built up trust within the mafia with most of their members—including the boss. Then after a year, when I was fourteen, like you already know, I became a squad leader. I was friends with Sam from my previous squad, whom back then was only twelve. I carried him over and these past two years I've steadily built up my squad to where it is now." Wow. Just wow. I was not expecting such a story... I honestly feel bad. Even though my mother died due to my father, at least I never had to watch her die in front of my face. And you'd never know it either by looking at him! How much of a makeup masquerade can one put on themselves to cover up all of those scars? I don't know. All I do know is that I'm now in a better place than before. Thank god for all of these people whom are hopefully in a better place along with me.


	9. Relocation Part 1

As we are still sitting on the stage of the church's basement, James says, "well, we have no plan now. We have no guaranteed way to take out the boss. Also, Sam, please don't worry, it's not your fault. I didn't expect us to take out the boss without some casualties on our side—he's that dangerous of a fighter. So, I guess I have no other thing to say other than thank you. Thank you for stopping my foolishness of looking past definite casualty due to my high optimism. Next time I'll be sure to thoroughly go over the entire plan with all four of you. I guess you really did save our lives." As James said the last part, Sam's eyes couldn't help but grow and sparkle. Sam then went up and hugged James.

"Thank you so much! God I love it when you compliment me! It makes me feel so much better about myself!" When Sam turns back around and glances at the rest of the group, Hunter turns his head as if in guilt. I guess I'm not the only one that will contribute to making this a happier place. James. James is the head of our squad—the best leader of all time. All of us. We all look up to him as the gold pot at the end of a black and white shaded rainbow.

* * * * *

Five days later, on Friday, April 12th, we arrive at our gas station. This time we are cautious of the gang that we attacked—or at least attacked us first. They'll definitely attack us, because after all, we only have our replaceable squad for protection, they have an entire gang.

"James? Where are you going?" I ask as he walks past our gas station.

"We won't be using this place anymore," he replies. "It's far too dangerous with the gang out to get us. I only came out here to check if the gang would attack us this early. Plus, if we don't want the assassination squad to come after us, we better take care of our land."

"Then where will we stay?" Sam asks.

"First, we've gotta get back David. We'll provide him protection in return for us staying at his place."

Sam then responds by saying, "how will we get David back after we just dropped him off like that? Plus, how will we pay the loan sharks?"

"Loan shark," corrects James. "Since my mother almost went to a loan shark, but ultimately went with the mafia for loans, I know for a fact that that guy is not a part of any major black market broker loan sharking businesses. You can tell that because no real loan shark will be so frightened and run away just from some stern words. Also, how on earth do you think David was actually able to get black market access to an actual loan shark? A half blind and death old man? And also a nice and innocent man like him? BS! I bought none of it. Not even from the beginning. This means we can easily take the lone shark out without a huge organization coming after us."

"When we were at the park, the black coated man ran East, despite that being the exact way that would get him in the most danger with the way we were situated," Hunter recalls. "And since David's house is in that direction, he must relatively be in the same area. That also explains how David got this guy in the first place. Also, when we were past David's apartment, the loan shark went the opposite way we came from. If you remember, he went to the same apartment as David. Hey! Sam?"

"Wha?" Sam annoyingly asks. "You better not-"

"I wanna ask you what you think of this situation. Like, where do you believe the loan shark's business headquarters is?" As Hunter asks Sam this, Sam's eyes widen and sparkle more than I've ever seen them before.

"You-you really think I can handle this?"

"Yeah! Why not? I'm putting my trust into you, aren't I?"

"Yes! I can't-nevermind. I better get to thinking about this situation," Sam says as he joyfully looks at Hunter. "Let's see... since he lives in the same relative area as David, and he took David into his apartment, I suspect he wasn't taking David to David's apartment, but rather he also operates and lives there." Hunter then puts on a puzzled face which makes Sam stop in his tracks. Sam then stutterly continues with, "well, I mean, how else do you think David got such a person? Where else would he go? The only time he leaves his apartment is when he takes walks at the park... Sorry, I know I can't do this..." Sam says as he lowers his head.

Hunter then takes the look off of his face and says in a comforting voice, "well, I guess we can see if that works. I didn't know myself, so I just wanted your opinion. I'll be honest, at first I didn't see where you were coming from, but after you explained yourself, I now believe in you. I believe in you so much that I believe you can become something great one day. You just need to be comfortable enough to spread your wings without ice forming on the tips." Sam then brightens up and joyfully hugs Hunter and asks when will we leave and James responds that we'll head there right now.


	10. Relocation Part 2

We are now outside of David's apartment. He lives on the fourth floor. He lives just on the outskirts of our squad's protection. As we enter, we soon realize that we actually need a key to enter...

"How the hell will we get in?" I exclaim.

"I guess we'll just have to wait here until someone that lives here opens the door for us," James responds. Two hours pass...

After the two hours, Sam, who seemingly has had enough, gets up and says, "look up there. There's a second story building up there with the fire escape window open! I can definitely use that pole right next it to climb up and get on the platform. It will be easy, especially for me! I'm used to escaping and entering buildings in my past life."

Bach then says, "I guess we better start using you now, hahah!"

Hunter then replies, "well, we never had to do something as dangerous as this... We only had simple tasks. So, we better start understanding everyone's capabilities so we know who is the best person for each task!"

"You bet!" Sam proudly shouts as he puts his hand on his chest as if he's pointing to himself. "The wonderful Sam is reporting for duty! Hey! Trish! You better watch this! You'll love it~!" Oh god... Not this crap again.

Sam then goes up to the poll and climbs up it with such ease like someone going up stairs. Once he reaches the second floor platform, he doesn't even try to reach out or anything, but rather, as if it's instinctively ingrained within him, jumps from the pole to the guard rail with as much precision as a neurosurgeon. I guess it was impressive enough to get my attention, hah.

He then looks down at me to see if I'm still looking, so I wave at him. This makes him blush. Man, he's too easy. After regaining himself, he hops over the guard rail. He then climbs through the window, again with such ease.

After some time, Sam is seen with security escorting him out of the building. As Sam gets pushed out the building by the guard, Hunter holds the door open to the apartment. The security guard asks what the rest of us are doing here, so Hunter, being the oldest, says that he lives here and these are his friends and said that he forgot to bring his keys in so he had the smallest one climb through an open window. The security guard then asks us why we didn't use the buzzer... Hunter, along with the rest of us, freeze.

"Oh... Yeah...," Hunter says. "Wait! If there is no one in my apartment, who will hear the buzzer? Keep in mind I don't have anyone I know on the inside that'd be willing to help me."

This time it was the security guard's turn to freeze. He then told us that he'll let us in, but we better not let the little one in as he points to Sam. "Fine. I'll just take him back to his house. I keep my key under my door mat, so I'll let these people in my apartment while I go do that," Hunter tells the officer. The security office then tells Hunter that he shouldn't do that as it's too obvious of a hiding place and Hunter agrees in masquerade. The officer then let's James, Bach, and I in.

As we enter the building, when the security guard leaves us, the three of us laugh super hard.

"Man!" I say. "So much for all that showing off, haha!"

"Yeah!" says Bach. "Maybe next time he won't do it, hahah!"

James then tells us, "hey now, that was the happiest I've seen him since I met him in the past few years. Well... up until the last part, haha."

"I guess I better trust you," Bach responds. "After all, you've known him far longer than any of us in the squad." I guess they're right; my goal is to make this entire group the happiest it's ever been; however, does Sam really have to go about it in such a weird way?

"Anyways, let's now go to David's apartment on the fourth floor," James tells us.


	11. Relocation Part 3

James, Bach, and I are currently outside of David's apartment; James knocks on his door. No answer.

"David! It's us! It's James! Open up!" down the hall, we hear a door open. All three of us look over to see whom will come out, and sure enough, the guy in the black coat does.

Before he could say anything, Bach goes chasing after him. The guy pulls out a gun from underneath his coat. This does not faze Bach at all as he keeps running. How can Bach keep running at a time like this? This time Bach has a literal gun pointed at him! He'll get shot! The black coat guy also sees no sign of slowing down as Bach is now a few feet away from the guy. The nameless guy then pulls the trigger. No! I scream. Bach! Are you crazy! Why? Why would you run directly at a guy with a pulled gun? The next thing I notice is blood splattering on the wall as Bach's body goes perpendicular from where it once was. I notice a giant bullet hole in his right shoulder. Despite this very scary injury, as soon as Bach is able to, he charges at the black coat guy. The black coat guy doesn't know what to do as he shakily holds out his gun. Before the guy can shoot another bullet, Bach tackles the guy and puts him in a headlock with his right arm—the one that got shot! Crazy! How crazy is this guy! Does he feel no pain? Has he always been this impervious to pain or did it develop within him throughout all the years of punishment he racked up? I want to know so desperately, however I must respect the golden rule of not bringing up other's previous lives before the mafia.

David then comes out to see what the fuss is about; James tells him it's us and we're here to save him. David doesn't seem to understand why, so James tells him if he lets us stay at his place, we'll excuse his past controversies. He also tells him that from now on, he'll pay for his protection by protecting us.

David seems to like this idea as it gives him more protection from these parrot loan sharks and other debacles in the future. "PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!" Shouts the security officer from before as he holds a gun at all of us. Bach loosens his hold as the security officer goes up to him. The officer notices the gun on the floor, but puts cuffs around the black coat guy due to Bach being the one with a bullet in him. The guard stays there with us until a police officer shows up to arrest the man.

After talking over the situation, Bach tells the officer that he's able to walk to the hospital and won't need an ambulance. Then, the police officer leaves and reassures everyone that heard the gunshot the criminal has been captured; then all of us go in the criminal's apartment. It's really trashy. Like, VERY trashy. David then goes over to a couch, takes off the cushions, presses four camouflaged buttons, and pops off the lid. Underneath this huge display of locks happens to be the guy's entire fortune he's acquired over the years.

"This must be hundreds of millions!" James excitedly exclaims. "So, are you paying this all to us?" James asks David.

"Yes. I'm far too old to have the need for all this money," David answers. "So, I figured I'd just donate it all to you."

"Great!" James continues. "We better transport all this cash over to your living space before people clean out this room!"

After we transport all of the money to David's room, James tasks me with the job of retrieving Hunter and Sam. After I question him, he reassures me that I'm perfectly capable of doing a task all by myself. Alright. This will be my first time I'll be alone since I ran away from home; although, James was alone to fend for himself on the streets for two years and who knows about the others, so I should be perfectly capable. I mean, it's only for a few minutes, so-

"Trish! Are you gonna do it or just stand there fantasizing about me once again?" James shouts at me.

I lower my head and say to him, "oh... sorry. I guess I'll just go."

"Hey! I don't like to see you down like that. Please don't take anything anyone says in this group serious. Got it?" James asks me.

"OK! Gotcha!" I respond.

I then turn around and exit into the hall. What if someone will jump me? The gang? No. That's impossible. There's no way someone from a gang will be in a building that requires a key access. But what if, when I get outside, Sam and Hunter aren't there? What will I do then? I guess I'll just wait and see. They better be there or else I'll-

"What're ya mutterin' about, Trishy?" Sam asks me. Huh? I'm already outside? How? I guess I was worrying to much, hah.

"Aw. You can't help but look at me now?" Sam says.

Shit. This prick! I reply back with, "I was just in shock of that stupid nickname you gave me."

"Aw. What's the matter, Trishy?"

"Dammit! I told you to stop!"

"Sam. You'll get her one day. I know you will."

"Hunter? You too?" I yell at both of them.

"Damn right!" Sam agrees. Sam then goes up to Hunter and they do a complex handshake I've never seen before. Ugh. First Sam, now I have to deal with Hunter? He was starting to grow on me!

"Well, what's up?" Hunter asks. "Why're you down here by yourself?"

"Oh yeah! Dammit Sam, I wasn't thinking about you! I was just-just-I was just-you know what? Sorry! I'm," I begin to say as my speech slows down. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. I don't like to do it. It's just that I don't appreciate how you hit on me like that. So please, can you stop?"

"Sure! I'll stop, Trishy!"

"Fine. You can keep the nickname. I actually quite like it," I reply.

Hunter then elbows Sam as he half smiles and snickers to say, "so, after you lovebirds are done talking," just ignore it now. "I want you to tell me," Hunter says as he switches the focus of the conversation on me, "why you came down here by yourself and why a police car showed up and arrested the black coat guy. I guess the operation went well, correct?"

"Well, you are correct to say that. However, Bach did sustain a shoulder injury before he tackled the guy; only for him to then put the guy in an arm lock with the same arm as the one that got shot. Then the same security guard from earlier showed up and arrested the black coat guy because, as I said, Bach got shot! After that, a police officer came and arrested the guy; however, before any people were able to come check out his apartment, David showed us the guy's secret stash of money. Guess what? James estimated it to come out to hundreds of millions of dollars!"

"Holy shit!" Sam shouts.

"Yeah!" I agreed.

"Alright," Hunter starts. "Let's go up to David's room and... Trish?"

"Yeah?" I innocently respond.

"Why didn't you hold the door open?"

"Well... about that... dammit! How are we supposed to get in there again?" I worriedly ask.

"Trishy! It's OK! I'll use my wondrous powers to enter another person's window!" Sam tells me.

"Oh god! You're gonna have to! Please! You're our last hope!" I respond.

Hunter, who is his usual calm self, walks up to the door, presses the buzzer to David's room, asks to be let in, the door unlocks. Sam, who is now holding my arm, along with me, look stupidly at Hunter as he tells us to come in with him. When I notice that Sam is holding my arm, I angrily pull away as Hunter smirks.

Once in the apartment, James tells us the plan. "All right," he says. "We'll be donating all this money to our boss-"

"But why? That 'man' doesn't deserve a single cent! Besides! Aren't we against him?" I interrupt.

"C'mon Trishy! Ya know that we'll be on better terms if we give this money to him. I mean, after all, he knows we're planning something—he may not know the full extent; however, he does know we are. Plus, squads must give a large majority of their earnings to the boss to stay in that position. If they don't, they're wind. As in, they blow away—they vanish," Sam explains to me.

After understanding, James explains that he sent a letter to the boss using David's stamps and made a meeting in twelve days on Thursday, April 25th. He goes on to say, "I do not plan on this being the day we take out the boss; we're just here to deliver the money and leave in order to rebuild our trust with the boss. Because of this factor, we don't need the entire squad to go—I'm only gonna send two of us. My first pick is Trish. Why? Because she is the boss' daughter and we want to make sure the boss understands that Trish hasn't run away—she's now simply a part of his organization. Also, I want Trish to understand what goes on in the mafia, or at least our squad." James then talks specifically to me, "we're not entirely about going on killing sprees, warfare, fighting—no, we're mostly about just having a stationary area of the city to protect. Sure, we do have other squads that specialize in crimes such as underground trading, drug dealing, and assassination—however, the large majority take money for protection and duties to serve the boss. It's a rather boring job; before, we mostly just hung around and did nothing until it was time to collect taxes. Trish, you just happened to join at the most eventful time. With that out of the way," James says as he now focuses on the rest of the group. "The second person I chose for this delivery is Sam-"

"Hold on!" I protest. "Why do I have to go with that little twerp?" I ask as I look at Sam whom is giddily sitting there.

"Mission accepted James!" Sam says as he ignores my complaints. "I, Sam, hereby accept this lovely mission that has been brought upon me!"

"Well, good. Anyways," James continues. "The reason I chose Sam is because he's the person who's most willing to protect Trish with his life. He also, although not used that often, is a good thinker—it just takes some encouraging to bring it out though, haha. I believe you two are the two best to do this job. Do you two accept?"

"You bet I do!" Sam exclaims.

"Sure, I guess," I reply.

"Good. You'll be leaving in seven days to go on the five day trip to meet the boss at the church on the 25th. Also, since today is Saturday, who wants to go see a movie at the theater with this money? After counting, in the letter, I made sure to write $100,000 lower from the original—so I ended up writing out $369,874,583."

Sam then says, "nice! That's like a few thousands dates with Trishy!"

"As if!" I shout.

Hunter then says, "you two can go on as many dates as you'd like, however I'm gonna stay here with David and have a quality conversation with him—something you guys are lacking."

"Alright," Bach says. ¨You can boringly stay here with David. Although I wish I could as well, however I believe that James' party will be far funner."

"Bach," Hunter responds. "You better not insult David like that."

"It's OK," David says. "It doesn't bother me; you youngings won't have as much of an experience as someone older than you."

"Yeah. Only by three years," Bach mockingly replies.

David then tells him, "once you get older, you'll find that when you were younger, you mentally aged faster than you previously thought—until one day you just advance slower and slower."

After Bach realizes he has been proven wrong, David tells James, "since you have a spare $100,000, why don't you go buy a car so you don't have to walk around the entire city?"

"Hah," James responds. "I wish it were that easy! I would, if not for one fact—none of us have our license."

"Oh! Please excuse my-"

"Oh no, no, no. I didn't mean it like that. Well, anyways, why don't we go to the movies and have a fun time until our next mission?" James asks. "Also! Trish. Keep in mind that we collect our taxes at the end of every month—so that means the next tax collection will be in two weeks and three days. There's just one more thing! We don't actually have $100,000—no, most of that money I saved will go towards Bach's medical bill."

"Huh? Why would I need to go to the hospital?" Bach questions.

"Are you crazy?" I shout. "You freaking got shot! Of course you need to go to the hospital!"

"Fine. I'll go," complies Bach.

"All right, I'll take him there right now. We'll ditch the ER due to the costs, and after all, Bach doesn't need it, right?" James says as we all chuckle.


	12. Sam and Trish's Escapade Part 1

All of us, excluding Hunter who's talking to David, are currently in the waiting room of the hospital waiting for Bach to come out. We waited there when he was with us for two hours and it's been another hour since he went in. There he is! Finally!

"Hey, Bach," James says as we meet him. "So, how is it?"

"Nothing major was hit," Bach responds. "So they stitched it up and gave me these antibiotics," he says as he rattles an orange cylindrical medication bottle. "They say to come back for later check ups, however I don't need to, hah!" James then tells him that he normally would've made him go to those appointments, but due to the current circumstances, he's willing to excuse it this time. After this, we then go back to David's.

At David's, all of us are sitting around the coffee table. We're here because it's gotten too late to go to the movies due to waiting for Bach at the hospital. Then James walks into the living room—the room we're in.

"All right, everyone," he starts. "I did the calculations, and since we don't have insurance, Bach's medical bill has come out to just under $95,000!"

"Jesus!" cries Sam. "Is it even legal to charge that?"

"Well, I mean, most people are supposed to have insurance in this country...," James explains.

James then goes on to say, "for now, we'll just go to sleep—tomorrow we'll go to the movies." As James says this, Sam jumps with joy and looks at me. Listen, buddy! I want to tell him. There's no way that I'm gonna call this a date!

* * * * *

As we are walking through Mapletree Mall (which is where the movie theater is), we decide to stop at the food court for our meal. I love Chinese food, so that's what I choose. However, the thing that gets me is that Sam, whom told me that he'd rather not have Chinese food, got the same order as me from the same place. Bach got the same fast food joint as James, but luckily got a different order because he's not a creep like Sam...

Now that we're done eating, we still have forty five minutes to spare until the movie starts. James suggests that, with the remaining money we have, should buy some food from the grocery store next door to the mall.

"After all," he says. "We barely have any food at David's. I don't even know how he lives his life with so little food!"

As we pass the lingerie department store, I catch Sam peeping in. This is my time! But before I can get to him, he goes up to the front window and asks me to try the one he's pointing to on. Great... Just like usual, I say to myself as I roll my eyes.

"Nice job, Sam!" Bach yells.

"Thanks!" Sam says as they both do the same mysterious handshake that Sam did with Hunter yesterday. How many of them are in on it? You know what? I don't even care if they don't let me in on it! A handshake? How can one do such a-

"Ttrriiiiisshhhhh!" Sam yells from who knows where. I look up to see that everyone is no longer next to me. Sam then yells a second time. This time I spot him. How did they end up way down there? I question myself. Once I reunite with them, Bach says, "hey, Sam! I think she's-" is all I listen to before I block them out of my mind until we get out of the store.

Once outside the mall, as I'm about to cross the crosswalk, Sam comes up to me and says how he, as a gentleman, should go first in case of danger. In case of danger? What danger? What will-I say as I take one step on the crosswalk just when a car comes racing past me, going well over the speed limit.

"See," says Sam. "I just wanted to save you from that." He then winks at me. Ugh! I have to put up with him alone for five whole days! I guess I'll just have to complain to James.

Once we leave the grocery story, we leave with all the necessities we need for making food. James made sure to pack enough of each meal for six people—which includes David. Wait... Where...

"Where are we gonna store all this stuff while we go to the movie?" I ask.

Sam, James, and Bach all stop dead in their tracks as if I said I'm going to kill one of them. Bach loudly swears, Sam seems to be in a panic, and James seems to be the only one out of us who is acting cool.

James then tells us, "I'd rather not set this stuff down and hope no one steals it, like we usually do. We spent way more than our usual budget."

After Sam asks if they'll get to see the new hit movie that just came out, James tells him, "like I said, I don't want to get rid of these groceries, so I've decided that we will not see the movie today—and before you ask, we'll try to see it tomorrow." After some complaining from Sam, we leave for David's

* * * * *

Yyaaghhh, I yawn as I wake up in the middle of the night. Before falling back asleep, I notice James talking to Hunter. I woke up in the middle of their conversation, so I'm still trying to figure out what's going on.

Once I'm able to understand their tongue, I hear James tell Hunter, "I'm the leader, I get that. However, I still find it hard to take the role as "leader." I'm not just a leader to these people, I'm also their role model, or even their father figure—which, sadly, is the first one that's appeared in some of their lives. Sometimes, I feel like it's too much! And I thank you for helping me out with getting Sam more confident in himself as of late. However, that happened to be a hindrance for Trish because she has to deal with him. I just don't know what to do sometimes. Like today, when I foolishly got groceries before going to the movie they wanted to see. I had to tell them they can't see it. It's rough. What do you think, Hunter?"

"Let me see...," Hunter says. "I actually thought you were doing really great as of late. Ever since Trish joined, her arrival has really made an impact on our squad; I believe that she's the one that will bring us together to take out the boss."

Really? I'm so tired. I don't think I heard them right. James having a hard time? But he's so calm and relaxed. I'm the person to bring us together? What does that mean? Morning. I'll think about it in the morning. I'll just... close... my... eyes... and-


	13. Sam and Trish's Escapade Part 2

The date is now Saturday, April 20th, which is the day that Sam and I are going to give the money to the boss. After complaining to James for the thousandth time that week, I had no choice but to go. I'll have a fun time he said? With Sam? How? I'll get to know him better? Oh, I already know him quite well—he's annoying, that's what. Well, anyways, it's now time to go. The only reason I'm leaving at this time is because if I leave any later, we may not get to the meeting on time. After all, I don't want to miss the meeting and get our squad in more danger or possibly even get us killed!

After James pushes us out the door along with three briefcases holding our money, I hear him sigh. A sigh? Why would he sigh? He's the one that's putting me through this!

"Are we gonna go or what?" Sam asks.

"Fine, you just lead the way. After all, I have no idea how to navigate our way to the church," I tell him.

"Hah! I'll get to you along the way!" he confidently says to me.

As I'm about to open the door to the staircase, Sam rushes over to me and claims that I said that I would let him lead the way! We're in the damn building! I'm perfectly capable of navigating this part of the way! So, I just let him to make him shut up. Man, this will be the longest five days I'll have to endure since joining the squad!

Upon exiting the apartment, I tell Sam that there's no way I'll put up with him for five days, so he better not talk to me for that time.

"Aw, Trishy!! There's no way you'll have to put up with me for five days! We get to be together for six!" Wait! Sam's right! It is six days! I forgot! That means today is...

"Sam! What's the date?"

"The 19th," he tells me. The 19th! I must've been so worked up about how long I'd have to stay with him that I forgot it was actually six days instead of five because we are further away than when we were at the gas station!

"Ahh, Trishy! Don't feel bad! I'm here to protect you," Sam says as he points to his heart. "With this heart right here, the one that is for you and best for you, will I solemnly swear to put your life in front of mine!"

"Aw, thanks!" I say to him as he smiles. I guess if I'm nice to him, he's more willing to shut up.

"Trishy, remember, like Hunter says, I'll get you one day!" he says as he winks to me; however, this time I don't cringe, thankfully. As Sam starts leading the way in front of me, I can't help but look at him. He has so much life in those blue eyes of his. He looks back to see if I'm following him, he smiles like normal, which makes me look to the side in frustration. Six more days... Six more days until we get there... Until we... get there...

"GODDAMMIT!!!" I shout at the top of my lungs. "If it's six days to get there, that's a whole another six days to get back!! That's twelve whole days that I'm stuck with you!!"

"Hahah!" Sam responds. "You're so into me, you can't even think!" That's not true dammit! We're only a few blocks away and I already want to run away—or at least run back to Jame's squad and leave Sam stranded here alone! However, I must drive through the pain.


	14. Sam and Trish's Escapade Part 3

"Sam, wait here while I go to the bathroom here at this gas station," I say to Sam as we are walking to the church.

"Can I come?" Sam tells me. Huh? What did this twerp say to me? He wants to come and see me go to the bathroom? What kind of dirty things are going on in his head about me? I thought he was clean about it—at least that's how I thought it was. As I look at him, he has eyes of a deer in the headlights. Hmpf, serves him right...

Sam stutters as he says to an angry me, "I-I-I mean... I-I should come in, right?" Now he can barely get his words out. "I-I never meant to say that I wanted-wanted to go in with you. All I was asking was if I could come in with you to the gas station so I could use it... After all, I think it might be a little dangerous for me to stand out here with these briefcases alone in case someone decides they want them."

As I look at him, lowering my anger, I tell I'm sorry and say, "it's OK, you can come in with me. You're actually right this time. If one of us stays out here, then who knows what will happen to them, right?" As we walk in, Sam holding two of the three briefcases, seemingly sighs a sigh of relief as he enters the men's restroom.

After exiting the gas station, a group of gang members from the gang we attacked the other day are standing on the other side of the street. Great. They are most likely going to get their revenge by attacking us when our numbers are low. You can tell if someone is a part of a gang due to the bandana they usually put on their head (they are sometimes put on other parts of the body). James explained to me the other day, the gang I once thought I was in, wears an orange bandana. Each gang wears a bandana with one solid color. The Orange gang right now is one of the most dangerous because they will attack anyone for any goal. Despite the fact that every gang usually attacks the person that has harmed a member of theirs, the Orange gang will decimate anyone in the surrounding radius, and anyone affiliated with them—this includes entire gangs! Because of this, the Orange gang is currently at an intense war with the Red gang—the one that has the territory right next door.

After walking a few feet, Sam quickly switches the briefcase he's holding from his right hand to under his left arm. Then he swiftly grabs my wrist and starts running. I try to get him off of my wrist; however, Sam has a grasp on me like an iron bolt. After a few seconds of him ignoring my protesting and questioning, I look behind myself to see the Orange gang hotly on our tails! I then scream and tell Sam I'm so sorry for not knowing. Then I tell him it was actually a great idea to grab my wrist due to all the pedestrians surrounding us. Sam then slightly turns his head so I'm able to see his face while he's still able to look in front of himself. Then, without blushing like he usually does, says, "that's because I love you."

After looking back in front of him, my chest starts to feel as if it's on fire. My heart is beating really fast, so I try attempting some breathing exercises; however, it's all for naught due to the fact that we're running at max speed—no, I'm running the fastest I've ever ran in my life! How am I able to keep up with him? Also, the hand that Sam grabbed onto is no longer tensed up and is the most relaxed part of my body.

Just as Sam is leading me across an intersection with the Orange gang being closer than it ever has been before, something to the right catches my eye: it's a bunch of people in red bandanas. It's the Red gang! Once the Orange gang notices the members of the Red gang, they stop chasing Sam and I and quickly turn around. The Red gang then starts chasing the Orange gang down.

Once Sam stops, he explains to me that we must now luckily be on the Red gang's turf, which is most likely the reason for the Orange gang's sudden turn around with the Red gang in their pursuit.

After Sam is done talking, he keeps looking at me; since I have nowhere else to be looking, I just stare at him. And stare. Sam then leans closer to me. For some reason, this actually feels quite comfortable. As he comes closer to me, he puts his lips together, and goes in for a kiss. Ahh, this is nice. Hold on, he's trying to kiss me!

"What do you think your doing?" I ask Sam as I gently push him back.

"I thought you fell for me," he says.

"As if! Who would fall for some annoying twerp like you?" I say to him, this time in a less obnoxious tone.

Sam then lowers his head, which makes me feel guilty, so I apologize.

"Hahahah! I love it!" Sam giddily says. Even though I'm mad at him, I find myself laughing along with him. Sam then starts laughing even more, which makes me laugh more as well. Once we stop laughing, Sam smirks, which makes me chuckle, which makes Sam break out in more laughter, which in return makes me break out in another bout of laughter. As we are standing there, laughing, I think to myself that maybe Sam isn't as bad as I once thought he was. Sure, I don't see him the same way as he sees me; however, the way he talks to me has a certain charm to it. I guess I should give more people more chances to befriend me. After all, it could be someone as great as Sam!


	15. Delivery Part 1

"Hahaha, do you have any other stories about James or anyone else?" I ask Sam as we are eating in a restaurant.

"Ooh!" Sam excitedly starts. "There's that time when James and I were in our previous gang and he got in trouble with our squad leader for wetting himself in his sleep!"

"Hah! How old was he?" I ask.

"He was thirteen," Sam tells me as he's trying to hold back laughter, but ultimately fails, which makes me go into a spout of laughter.

"That's way too old for someone that age!" I say as I almost choke on my words over my laughter.

Our waiter, who was standing there without our knowledge, asks when us two love birds would like to pay the bill. Love birds? As if! Sure, I now like Sam; however, that doesn't mean that I love him.

Since that last comment killed the atmosphere by my laughter stopping and Sam looking at me in confusion, our waiter apologized, which in return made me feel guilty. So I pay the bill with some of the money that James gave me for the trip (because we have to have the exact amount that we said we'd give to the boss) and leave extra money in the tip to try to make up for the waiter feeling bad about nothing.

As we are exiting the store, I give Sam some of the money that James gave me, because, before I left, I complained that Sam would not know how to handle the money, so James gave in and gave all of it to me.

* * * * *

"Hey! The church is in sight!" Sam gladly exclaims. "Aw," he continues as the tone of his voice saddens. "I'm already half done with spending time with you alone, Trishy!"

"You know that we have all the time we want in the future to interact, right?" I ask.

"Yeah, I know," he says as he winks at me once again. Ahh, it finally feels nice to not have to get angry or cringe at Sam whenever he does stupid stuff.

When we finally get up to where we were eighteen days ago, when I first learned of Sam's crush on me, it finally feels good to be back. Oh, how much can change in just the next visit to the same location. After Sam asks if I'm ready to enter and I ask if he is, we go into the building.

Once inside, we go over to the stairs and go down them. Once we're at the bottom of the stairs, Sam looks at me with concern, so I smile at him to make sure he understands that I'm good with what's about to go down. When we're both ready, Sam puts his hands on the door, looks back at me one more time, I nod, then he opens the door.


	16. Delivery Part 2

Before entering the basement of the church, I remember a conversation I had shortly after my new found opinion of Sam. We were walking along, on our way to the church, when I told Sam how much I like him over before our trip.

"Finally!" he joyfully says. "The beautiful and lovely Trish has fallen to me at last!"

"Hahah, I know you know I didn't mean love, I meant like—two very different emotions."

"One day, Trish! Remember! One Day!" he says to me as I laugh.

Sam, now looking sheepish, says to me, "I guess I'm feeling comfortable to tell you now." Huh? Tell me what? After regaining his composure, something I wish he didn't have to do, he says, "I want to tell you my past life before joining James' squad, and even before the mafia." Ooh! Finally! Thankfully he's telling me this now as opposed to before, when I wouldn't even care in the slightest. Man, what got into me before? How did I not see eye to eye with Sam? At least he never gave up on me.

Sam, who is looking around at all of the people that surround us, leads me into an alleyway. Once on the inside, he begins with, "so, where to begin... My earliest memories before joining the mafia, which I have very little of, are scarce because I joined at age seven. Yeah, the boss is willing to recruit anyone in hopes that they will become a valuable asset later in life; or he recruits them if their parents or guardians or anyone related can't pay off some sort of debt. I happened to fall on the ladder. My parents, who were very poor, dearly cared for me; however, we were living on the streets. We were in massive debt, so my father took a loan from the mafia. Since we were extremely impoverished, my dad had no way of repaying the debt, on top of the current debt. The debt kept on racking and racking up, until the boss, one day, had enough, and wanted immediate compensation. He gave my parents two options: they either pay off their debt, or they give their child, me, over to them. Since they had no way of paying the debt, they reluctantly gave me away. It was one of the most saddest moments of my life—or so I thought. When I joined the mafia, I suffered immense emotional abuse; you see, not every squad is willing to be as nice as James—it's very sad. Since I was a seven year old in the mafia, I was forced to fend for myself with no one else in my age group, and no more parenting figure or anyone to look up to—until James came along. It was five years of pure torture before that. I had nothing and no one. From age seven to twelve—nothing. Sure, most of the people in this squad had others, but I had no one. I'd even go as far to say that neglect is far worse than an actual person. Except Bach. Bach definitely had it far worse than me," he says as he looks like he's seen a million ghosts just thinking about Bach's past life. What happened to Bach? Will I ever get to know? Or will his scars be so deep that he's repressed them so much that I'll never get to know? Before I can even think of asking Sam, he says, "and no. I know you most likely weren't thinking about asking; however, I must respect James' golden rule—never bring up anyone's past life before joining the squad unless they and only they bring it up themselves."

"Well, anyway, let's get back to my story. When James joined and first saw me, he must've seen this poor twelve year old just sitting there in the corner sobbing and everyone in the room ignoring that twelve year old. James went straight up to me and held out his hand. I had no idea how to act, because for the past five years, I had no concept that anyone would even think about doing such a thing to petty old me. He told me that he just had to join the mafia because his mother couldn't pay off her loans, which instantly lit a spark in me because I suffered the same fate. We instantly became friends. After James joined that squad and I lightened up, the rest of the squad lightened up to me as well; however, even though I interacted with them thereafter, I still never forgave them due to all the emotional abuse I suffered the years prior. Then, as you know, our current squad's previous holders "vanished" so, James, being only one year into his mafia career, was good and lucky enough to qualify for the missing position. Keep in mind though that our previous squad was not the one that vanished, in case you were wondering."

That was a few days ago and this is now. Now I must face the boss—face my "father." The one that I'll never ever forgive. Sam then opens the door and goes in first, then I follow.


	17. Delivery Part 3

After I'm done recalling the events I had with Sam, he opens the door to the basement, where we're supposed to meet the boss. He leads the way and I follow. Once inside, I notice that there is no one in the room except us; however, the curtains to the stage are shut. Then, over the speakers, I can hear the boss say, "Trish, come up and around into the curtains."

Sam then leans over and says to me, "oh, I forgot to tell you; the whole thing about no one knowing the boss' identity was a lie on James' part so you wouldn't have to know who you were facing until we got there. He wanted this so you didn't have any negative emotions leading up to our first 'attempt,' because you seemed to be so full of life—which also happens to be why I love you." James, I say to myself. James. Thank you James. I know I was mad at you at first; however, it was because I didn't understand—you were right. You were also right to say that on this trip, Sam and I would get to know each other better. And, well, you were right with that as well! I guess I should start taking your word more often...

"What are you two mouthing about?" the boss shouts. Crap! I completely forgot about this! I was so mixed up thinking about James, I couldn't even process anything!

"We better get going," Sam tells me as he starts walking. I follow. Sam then says, "since we're giving you this money, I'd like to ask if we're able to keep Trish in our squad-"

"Absolutely not! You are to bring Trish and leave here immediately!" the boss demands.

"Please, I ask of you! Just listen!" Sam pleads.

"Fine! I'll listen; however, make it quick," I boss snaps.

"All right, if we keep Trish in our squad, she technically hasn't ran away—she still happens to be in your organization," Sam persuades.

"Hmm," the boss replies. "Interesting. Leave the money on the stage. If and only if the briefcases your holding have the exact amount James specified, then and only then, will I let you keep Trish."

After Sam and I both sigh a sigh of relief, the boss says over the speakers, "before you leave, I'll have my assistant come and count it—then, you are able to leave."

Then, a guy dressed in a butler's outfit, comes out and goes over to the three briefcases that we set on the stage a few minutes prior.

We sat there for what seemed like hours, waiting for the assistant to finish counting. Once he finished, he said, "it's all here boss."

The boss, with seemingly an ounce of frustration in his voice, says, "all right. You can take Trish. Just know that if your squad messes up or does anything to frustrate me, Trish will come back to me."

After that, Sam and I exited the basement of the church, went up the stairs, outside the building, then we went on our way back to David's apartment.


	18. A Different Kind of Conversation

As Sam and I are about to knock on the door to David's apartment, James opens up with the biggest smile I've ever seen him pull. I love it when I'm able to make him happy—it makes me happy.

James lets us in and Bach says, "you finally got her, Sam! We all heard you two going down the hall! Nice!"

Sam then goes over to Bach to do the handshake that I was so worried about earlier. Then James says, "see, I told you going on this trip will make you see eye to eye."

"Mhm," I say. "It made me finally trust you more than I should trust myself!" James then looks away from me and does a half sigh which I can only decipher as meaning that I shouldn't trust him this much because it would put too much weight on his shoulders—which he already has a lot. Now I think I actually understand the conversation James had with Hunter the other day.

"Hey!" says Sam. "Since we finally see eye to eye, why don't we go see another movie?"

"That sounds nice," James responds.

I however add to the conversation with, "sorry, but I don't think I'll be able to. I just got back from a twelve day trip across town on foot twice—I'm done."

After some mild complaining from Sam, James is able to reassure me that I deserve this break because of my efforts with Sam.

"I'll come too," Back adds in as his input to the conversation.

"I'll stay here again with David," is Hunter's input. "I'll finally get some time to interact with Trish without Sam..."

"Hey! Watch it!" snaps Sam.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, just go, why don't you?"

"Go? Go where? When?" Sam asks in confusion.

"The movie you wanted to see so bad starts in an hour and a half. You better leave now so you can get there on time."

"Oh shit, James! We gotta get going!" Sam shouts as he tries to push James and Bach out the door.

After James and Bach are actually ready, they and Sam leave for the movies.

"So, Trishy,"

"Her name's actually Trish. Sam calls her that for some reason," Hunter corrects David.

"Oh, excuse me," David politely says. "I knew you were a good person from when I first met you. Even though one's sense of hearing and sight get bad with age, one's sense of understanding someone doesn't—unless they develop Alzheimer's."

I giggle at that comment then say, "I was the only one who was concerned about you when I was first introduced to you, hahah!"

"Yeah," David says. "Even though I was scared about what Bach was doing with the guy with the gun, I still trusted James and now I know I can trust you."

"You don't trust Bach?" I ask.

"Yeah, something about him is just-is just-well, I don't think I can put my hand on it. My old age must finally be getting to me."

"But I thought you said understanding people doesn't disintegrate with age," Hunter responds.

"Well, I guess I did, ahah," laughs David as we converse through the night.

* * * * *

In the middle of the night, I wake up to the sound of the door opening up. It's Bach, James, and Sam. Boy, am I tired. I barely got any sleep during the past couple weeks. Since there is only one bed in the house—which obviously belongs to David—Bach, Sam, and I switch between sleeping on the couch each night and Hunter and James alternates sleeping on the big recliner. Since Bach got to sleep on the couch each night Sam and I were gone, we eventually settled on Sam and I getting three a piece couch night in a row. Hah! Since I was here first, that means I get first dibs on the couch! Suits you right, Sam! Now, just to go to sleep...

Uraaaagghhghhhh!!! I scream as I find Sam just laying, cuddling right next to me! However, he's not getting up! Wake up! How much of a heavy sleeper are you? Well, I guess you did stay awake most nights of our escapade. While I slept, you did stand guard. So, fine! Have it your way! I'll just sleep on the floor tonight! I'll get to you tomorrow for sure!


	19. A Different Kind of Horror

"You better pay up or else you won't be having this place for some time," Bach says to one of our customers who doesn't have enough money to pay for his end-of-the-month tax collection.

"I don't have anything!" the guy says.

"Listen buddy!" I shout at him. "We don't have all day!"

Sam then says, "yes! The beauty is right! We don't have all day! If you don't have any money to fork over, then we have no other choice but to take some of your possessions—mind you any ones that we want—from your house to make up for the money!"

The guy's face goes red and then he says, "wait right here! I'll see what I can find!" He then goes back into his house.

After about an hour or so of waiting, the three of us go into his house. Bach, using that loud and stern voice of his, shouts, asking where the guy is. After searching the entire house without the guy being in sight, we decide to head down to the basement—the only place left. When we open the door, the loudest creaking noise is heard that would shutter anyone in their tracks that had the displeasure of hearing it. We then hear noise coming from downstairs that sounds as if someone is hurriedly trying to put something together—or as Sam decides on—trying to hide something. But what could this man be trying to hide? We then go downstairs. After reaching the bottom, we see the guy, with his back turned against us, yelling for us to go away as he's messing with some black bags in a freezer.

Sam then shouts, "what are in those bags?"

The guy then turns around with an ax he pulled from the freezer and creepily stares at us.

Sam then shouts, "my god! This guy's a fucking serial killer! Like I thought, those bags have dead bodies in them!"

The three of us, with great distance between us and the guy with the ax, rush up the stairs; however, before he's out of sight, the guy with the ax doesn't decide to chase us, but rather he goes over to the opposite side of the entrance of the staircase. Half ways up, we hear a loud "click" as if a button was pressed. Now that we're at the top, the basement door is locked! He must've pressed a button to lock us down here!

The serial killer walks to the bottom of the stairs then slowly walks up them. As he's doing this, he creepily stares at us as if he's trying to bask in as much pleasure he can from this situation.

Bach, the strongest, then starts trying to break the door down. He usually is able to break down a door with relative ease; however, this time, he's having issues.

"Just smash it down!" I scream.

"You think that's not what I'm trying to do?" Bach shouts back.

The serial killer is now a few feet away; Bach is still struggling. Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! I'm going to die, aren't I? Why? Why does it have to end like this? The serial killer is now right on top of me! He then holds up his ax and takes a big swing! I'm done! I say to myself. Goodbye everyone.

After closing my eyes, I hear Sam screaming, then some loud noises. Because of this, I open my eyes. After opening them, I noticed Sam risked his life by tackling the serial killer down the stairs in order to save my life. Once Bach realizes this, he goes down to help Sam  
out.

Once I follow him, I notice that Sam took the brunt of the fall and is laying there unconscious—or at least I hope. God, I hope he's not dead! This then sends Bach into a fit of rage. Bach then takes out his switchblade and tries to stab the guy in the neck. This makes the serial killer move out of the way so only his shoulder gets stabbed. While Bach is trying to swing his switchblade for another stab, the serial killer swings his ax at Bach and manages to hit him with the handle part. This in return knocks Bach out unconscious.

I'm the only one left! I never had to fend for myself before! What will I do? Before I can do anything, the guy walks up to me. What will he do to me? I don't want to know. I can only imagine... I shouldn't think about it! I must fend for myself! The guy then swings at me, but I evade by rolling over to my right. However, since he swung from left to right, and the ax now being at his right and my left, he's able to swing in my way again. With the nature of the swing, he's coming at me with the non sharp part of the ax. Because of this, he's able to smack me in the leg with the ax. CRACK, is what I hear as my leg now feels as if it's in a million little pieces. I must push through the pain. I have to. I now have nowhere to go; I can't run away. Since I was already rolling, and thanks to the brunt attack, I was able to gain a few extra feet. I happen to land right next to a knife. Perfect! However, I've never had to kill anyone before! Why do I have to do it now? Why? I don't want to kill anyone! There must be a way to escape without us getting hurt anymore, right? I mean, I've never had to harm anyone, let alone kill—it was always someone else in the squad.

Huh? Hunter? It's Hunter! I can hear his voice! He's here! He must've come looking for us after we were missing! Yes! I don't have to kill anyone anymore. What is he saying? I can't really make it out; however, it doesn't matter since I no longer have to kill anyone! Yes! This is-Oh no! It was just my imagination! Dammit! I'm just hearing things! Since I wasted all that time, the serial killer is now about two feet in front of me! How? How will I make it out of this without me having to hurt him? I must think of a plan! However, I can't shake off Hunter's voice in my head. The voice is taking me back to the night where I was first introduced to David in the old abandoned building. It was when Hunter and I were the last two up and were having a conversation. I recall some things, however, the biggest thing sticking in my head is when he said, "to be in the mafia, you must give up all past morals; even though it may seem like it now, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. We're not here to have a good time. We may and can have fun; however, you must also do things that you don't want to do. It's not 'maybe,' it's 'yes, you will have to do some things you morally don't want to do.'"

No! That's not true! That's impossible! I can't kill someone! I know there's a way to get out! Maybe I won't find it, but Sam or Bach here will find it! Especially Sam with that-with that-I stutter to think as I look at his and Bach's unconscious bodies. No! I must save them! I can't be selfish! I can't let us die like this! I have to lower my moral code if I want to be accepted into James' squad! It's not a matter of 'maybe,' but rather it's 'I have to do it.'

Oh shit! The serial killer is now right on top of me! I was thinking for far too long! He then picks up his ax as if mocking the fact that I'm not going to retaliate—or at least wasn't. As he swings, I pick up the knife and stand to-oh shit! My leg! I scream as my leg seemingly feels like it snapped in half. I can't even move it now! Thankfully, I gained enough leverage to dodge the attack, so I slash the knife at his leg. He then shouts and curses at me. He then picks up the ax one more time, this time as fast as he can, and swings down at me. As he swings, I lunge as far up as I can through the wide gap between himself and where he's swinging and I manage to stab him in the stomach. This is enough for him to stop his swing; however, he quickly manages to regain his senses; but not before I slash at his Achilles tendon. This makes him fall to the floor in pain. This gives me the advantage so I take the opportunity to stab the serial killer in the throat, just like how I saw Bach do it to that gang member all that time ago. After what just transpired, I begin crying. I can't stop. Uncontrollable tears are flowing down my face—I feel like I'm going to choke. Then I feel someone hugging me. Who is it? It's not the serial killer because he's laying right there. Through my tear stroked eyes, I notice that Sam's supposedly unconscious body isn't where I last remember.

"It's OK," Sam says to me in the sweetest and most comforting voice I've ever heard in my entire life. "I didn't actually get knocked out; I just couldn't move—so I saw everything. I'm just now able to start moving; however, it hurts. Everything hurts. However, pain is the least of my worries; all I'm worried about is how to make you feel better." Thank you, I want to say. However, I can't due to all the tears. So I just lay there, sobbing in his arms.


	20. Gang Wars Part 1

Huh? I'm so tired. Where am I? I'm in a room? In a... Hospital? That's right... I broke my leg. Broke my leg. That's right! Is Sam and Bach OK? I get up and see James sleeping in an armchair next to my bed. This startles him enough for him to wake up.

"Oh! I'm glad your finally up!" James excitedly exclaims. I try to speak but whimper in pain due to the sudden jerk I just did when sitting up. "It's OK. I'll fill you in on everything. You don't need to worry." Thank god. Is Sam in the hospital as well? Is he OK? What about Bach?

"Calm down," James says. "You were knocked out for about four days." Four days? How much has happened since then? "Sam is OK. He suffered mild injuries, but none that needed hospital treatment. Same thing with Bach. Sam did tell me what happened though; he was the eyewitness for the investigation. The police understood that you three were doing business as usual, but didn't try to get into that mess. I'm proud of you Trish. I don't know what I would've done in that situation; but from how Sam described it, if I look past all of the nonsense love driven adjectives, you didn't seem to want to do it either. I know that feeling. I've always regretted killing my father. Since then, I vowed to not kill anyone since—so far, it's gone to my favor; however, the only exception that I'm willing to make is the boss—no one else." Damn. I feel bad for the James that feels bad for me. I don't like to see him like this.

"Also, there is some other news," James tells me. "There currently is a full scale attack going on around David's house between the already ongoing feud between the Red and Orange gangs. David's house and anyone in the surrounding areas are at huge risk. Even though the Orange gang is really ferocious, the Red gang is about equal in strength due to their high numbers and the sheer danger they possess. Anyone that gets in the middle of their battles will for sure not survive. This all started when the Red gang saw some Orange gang members on their turf, which once the Red chased the Orange gang into their territory, other members of the Orange gang mistook it for their own gang getting attacked. This in return made the Red gang falsely accuse the Orange gang for leading some of their own to cowardly take them out—thus chaos ensued. I however believe this was caused when Sam told me about the same situation occurring between you two and said gangs a while back. Such as shame how one conflict from one side will only cause more and more conflicts, and before you know it, you completely forgot what you were fighting for in the first place." James then looks at me and says, "you better get some rest. Despite me being younger than you, I was eventually able to convince them that I am indeed your guardian and relative. Luckily, I look far older than sixteen." I am feeling really sleepy. James is getting ready to leave, so I close my eyes.

The thing that wakes me from my almost immediate slumber is James standing right next to my hospital bed kissing me on the lips. I don't know what to do! I million emotions are fluttering through me! After he finishes, he says, "I'm sorry, but I couldn't hold it in anymore. I also love you just like Sam. So, please understand that." As I look at James in shock, he grabs his things and walks out the door before I am able to process anything that just occurred.


	21. Gang Wars Part 2

Huh? Sam? What are you doing there? I'm in a flower garden? Sam? Now James? Now they're fighting? What are they fighting over? Both of them are seemingly holding different types of flowers. What flower are they holding? I can't tell... I'll just get closer and ask what they're doing-

"Trish!" Sam shouts as I wake up from a dream. "You've been sleeping since I got here! It's about time to leave!" 

"Oh... Sorry," I say as I put on a smile.

"It's fine. Don't worry. I just wanted to talk to you." 

"Is it about the gangs?" I ask.

"Yes," Sam says. "It's really chaotic. The boss is ordering us, along with other squads, to take care of it. The police system is under strict rules to not interfere because the city believes that the gangs will not have any of it. I personally don't buy any of it. They just want an excuse to not use their own and hire others for the job."

"Trish Smith," says a nurse coming in to the hospital room. "Your father wants to see you."

The nurse seemingly spat out those words in a ferocious knot of snakes coiled around my body. The very mention of me seeing my father scares me. Sam then gets up and shouts, "don't let that man in here. He's an abusive sorry excuse for a parent—he's nothing to not only Trish, but me as well. We all hate him. Get him out of here, please." 

The nurse then looks at me and finds the approval she needs. "OK," she says. "I'll see what I can do about it." 

After a few minutes, the nurse comes back and checks out my leg. "Looks like you're able to leave—just on time."

I then look at the nurse with who knows what look and the nurse tells me that I'll get a police escort out of the building.

* * * * *

Good. I'm at David's apartment now. Sam is helping me home. But wait? What about what happened with James? How will I face him now? Oh gosh, I have no idea. As Sam opens the door with the spare key, we both enter. When I enter the room, James greets us like normal and acts like nothing has changed at all since before my leg broke. 

"How much are you able to walk on it?" James asks.

"Well, as you can see, I don't need crutches; however, I do need this leg brace. I'm also advised to not engage in any physical activity, including running, for the next week or so."

"Great," James says. "We need everyone possible."

"It's OK, I can-"

"No! You mustn't do anything that the doctor advises you not to do," James interrupts. "I don't want to see you hurt ever again. Please, I'm begging you!"

James then sits everyone down to discuss what to do with the gang attacks. 

"All right," James begins. "We need someone to stay here and protect David and our base while we go out on our first mission. We basically are assigned with patrolling our area making sure nothing too big is awry. So, I assign Hunter, because he is most acquainted with David, and Trish, because she still needs time to recover. So, in the next few minutes, I want Sam and Bach to follow me and we'll patrol the area where needed. Any questions?"

"Can I stay here with Trish instead of Hunter?" Sam asks.

"Any serious questions?" James asks.

After no other questions are asked, everyone except Hunter, David, and I leave. 

"Ah, quite peaceful without Sam bugging ya, right Trish?" Hunter asks me.

"Hah, I actually like Sam's humor now," I respond which makes Hunter laugh. "Why are you laughing?" I question him.

"Ah, no reason. You just remind me of my younger self."

"Hmm?" 

"Well," Hunter says. "I guess this is a good enough time as any. Let me bring you back to my life before joining the gang." Ooh boy! More backstory! "Ah, yes. I've barely told anyone. I've also barely talked about it. To be frank, I've never really planned on telling you, but seeing you where you are now, I can't help but just share my experiences."


	22. Gang Wars Part 3

"Let me take you back to my past," Hunter says to me. Yes! More backstory!

Hunter begins, "yes, it's as if it was a red nightmare. Basically, I was here in America and was about to travel to Italy at the age of eighteen. Life was alright before that—nothing out of place." I guess not everyone had it bad their entire life before the squad. "My family was going to live in Italy to start a new life to get away from some debt they had to pay off. As it turns out, they couldn't hide long in Italy because the same organization has a place there as well. Since my parents had no way of paying them back, they flew me back here—Mapletree, North Dakota. It was hard to leave my parents behind, but I feared for my life. I eventually went to the town square and found pictures of the city. Some of the pictures depicted a red light district. Although I wasn't planning on doing any promiscuous things, I knew it would give me slight protection due to all of the people and underground stuff that goes on there. When I arrived, I was disgusted at what I saw. As I walked past the different places, I saw a facade. Everything from their faces to the way they acted started to tear apart under the neon wheeled lights. I eventually got lost in hell. I had no way of getting out."

"Eventually, now at the age of twenty one, I noticed a kid about the age of thirteen entering the district. I had no idea who it was and wondered why such a young kid was there. He saw me and asked why I was eyeing him so much; I didn't know how to respond; after some thought he said, 'alright. Follow me; I'll get you out of here.'"

"Soon he eventually got me out and later told me that he was tasked with trying find a run away male courtesan named 'Cadence' who 'hadn't done anything that was told of him and needs to be found immediately.'" As those words left Hunter's mouth, he must've detected my worried face and told me that he didn't actually do anything that they told him to do; in fact, no one really wants a "paper courtesan" anyways.

So, I guess that's three down with one more backstory to go. I don't know if Bach will ever reveal his backstory. Will he? I hope! I really like to hear that kind of stuff! Anyways, now what? Do we just sit here until the other three get back? Man, I wish they were all here! I'd be having so much better of a time! When will my leg heal? The doctor said... uh... six to eight weeks! It still hurts like hell though! Why did I refuse to get crutches? I don't care about being the "tough one" anymore! I want to alleviate this pain! Oh god! Hopefully it'll go away soon.


	23. Gang Wars Part 4

It has now been seven weeks and I am finally able to walk on my leg without any problems. 

"All right! Trish can now come with us!" Sam excitedly exclaims at the news.

"Well, it has been the recommended amount of time to take. So I guess she can go," James tells me as we walk out of my final doctor checkup. 

"Well," James continues. "With all the medical bills, we are now back to our basic spending allowance."

"What?" shouts Sam. "How are we gonna go to the movies every day?"

"Hahhah," James responds.

"Aw, shut it," says Sam.

"All right," James continues. "To fill Trish in on-"

"Who're ya?" shouts three people sporting orange bandanas–gang members.

"We know ya in tha mafia! We've seen ya 'round here!" one of them says.

One of the members, whom I can only guess is the leader, starts to laugh. This makes the other two laugh. They are going to kill us, I think to myself. We gotta get out of here!

Wind. We're talking to wind. The wind is carrying our words right past them. Should I stay here? Should we stay here? Tell me. James? What do we do?

James looks at me with a look of reassurance. He can tell by the way I look at him that I'm frightened–that's how great he is. 

I observe the people with us. It's just James, Sam, and me; Hunter is back at the apartment talking with David, while Bach is out scouting the area while we were at the hospital. Meaning he will be of no help. 

I look around me. Three other hooded people come up behind us. A pincer attack. Great. Why don't these people know anything else? I mean, they are effective, but-no, I can't. I can't worry about futile things whilst surrounded. I look to James. He nods in understanding. Right behind the new incoming group is a subway station entrance. That may be our only escape. The plan should be to distract the new gang members as we go to the street, they follow, then we loop around to the entrance; there's no way we want to plain out run. We'd just get chased down and who knows who is hiding around a street corner. Another good reason for this is that gangs aren't allowed in the subway system because the mafia is set there (even though they can mostly get away with it, gangs don't want to start a war with the mafia). 

As I finish looking back at the subway entrance, I see that James sees the same as I. Now. Now the two sides are closing in. 

"Ya better beg to let us keep yer lives!" the assumed leader announces. 

"You better take my life instead of Trish's!" Sam shouts.

"No!" James retaliates. "No one is going to die."

Sam then half smirks and says, "I like it." Sam continues with, "I assume you have a plan, no?"

"Follow us to the subway station," replies James.

Waiting. We're waiting for them to make their move. As the two sides close in, James runs into the street. This makes one of the ones from the subway entrance follow in pursuit. 

"Do not follow!" James shouts without turning around. The leader then takes out his switchblade and takes a slash at me. I hear James swear under his breath at the current state of the plan; there's no way he can help us.

Before the leader can make contact with my face, I see a new figure in front of me. It's Sam

"What are you doing?" I shout.

"I don't want to see a cut on you," Sam says as he smiles. At this point I can see Sam facing me, with his back against the attacker. I see the leader hold up his knife for a thrust attack. NO! He can't! Not Sam! Before the leader thrusts, he stops. Why? I grab Sam and turn around to see one of the remaining two gang members opposite from us lying on the ground. Once the cloak of emptiness is removed, an emotionless figure is left standing over a dead body–it's Bach.

I pull Sam over to Bach and yell, "the subway station!"

"An' where do ya think yer goin'?" yells the leader. As we are heading down the subway station, the leader stops the other two. He tells his subordinates to stay where they are as he solely follows us in pursuit. 

As we turn the corner at the bottom of the stairs we see a small group of people which are obviously known to us talking in a circle. Bach shouts at them and tells them the situation. We then hear the leader of the gang come angrily around the corner. As he walks over to us, he shouts comments at us that I'm sure is the only time Bach wouldn't thrash back at said attacker. As the guy is in clear view, bullet holes rain throughout his body. He then drops to the floor dead.

"So, where's the money?" says one of the guys that was in the circle. 

"Yes. It's right here," Bach responds as he hands over a bag of cash. Those people–the people in the circle—were apart of the assassination squad of the mafia. They will kill anyone as long as they have the correct money; they are so effective in their killings, no trace is left behind (I'm sure if they were caught, they would somehow get excused due to their rank in the mafia). They are loyal to the boss and will take his word over any other squad or person–thus, they are the ones to take care of in work problems. Although we in the mafia do get a lower cost, we still have to pay them for extra protection (after all, we are supposed to provide our own protection). When the boss so chooses to want us gone, I'm sure they would be the ones to do it.


	24. Gang Wars Part 5

"Well," James says after all of us arrive in David's apartment. "What have we done this week? Sam, you go first."

"Ooh! Well first, I was able to get closer to Trish by-" is all Sam can get out before James smacks him on the back of his head.

"OK OK OK!" Sam shouts. "Trish and I were able to settle disputes on 3rd Avenue between both sides. We were able to get the Red gang to back up to their actual territory. So, for the time being, 3rd Avenue is safe."

"Bach?" James asks.

A sly grin appears across Bach's face for him to then say the words, "I happen to have made an ally with someone within the Orange gang."

After some time, to break the awe stricken atmosphere, James questions Bach by saying, "you did... now, what exactly are we going to do with this information?"

"Well, I suppose we can use him to side with the Orange gang to ultimately drive the Red gang out of here, or even better," the grin upon Bach's face now grows wider. "We can overthrow the entirety of the Orange gang from the inside out, making them disappear off of our streets entirely."

Sam, as usual, runs his mouth (although intelligently) without thinking of what he's saying; he says, "that's insane! Why would we want to do that? It makes no sense to destroy the Orange gang because the Red gang will swoop on in and take the territory for themselves!"

"Well," Bach says. "I'm planning on taking down the entire gang system."

This troubles Sam as he seems to not have an answer—just confusion; confusion at what ridiculous of a plan Bach could be thinking of.

"How will that work?" I ask.

"Let me take this," James tells me. "Only a fool would think they can take out a city's entire gang system; sure, you can take out the current existing ones, however, more will just rise in the wake of their absence."

"This is where you're wrong," Bach tells us.

"Sam, be quiet," James tells a Sam that is in the middle of starting a counterclaim. "OK, fine. Let's hear you out, deal? I got a feeling that this is going somewhere..."

"Alright, you see..."

* * * * *

"Heh," James snickers. "I like it. I really like it! In fact-no! For sure, this plan will work! I really like it! So, like you said, we'll start tomorrow, yeah?"


	25. OpIFP Part 1

Operation: Into the Frying Pan, or OpIFP in acronym, is the title given to Bach's plan on taking out the Orange gang from the inside out, to then ultimately take out the entire gang system. The plan does seem feasible—if James agrees with it, then you know it's a good plan. 

"James," I say before we leave.

"What is it?" he replies.

"Thank you for picking Sam to be with me," I say in return.

"You bet," James says as he does a half smirk. "I know you know that I know how everyone will work together and in what situations to best suit what circumstances are required for each mission—that's why I was assigned to be a squad leader."

"I need to ask a question," I say. 

"Alright!" James interrupts. "Now is the time to let OpIFP begin!" Huh? Did he not hear me? The thing I wanted to ask him—the thing that's been on my mind for forever now—is why he decided to kiss me on that day whilst I was in the hospital... Dang it! Why? Why can't I do anything? Did I actually say it? Or was it in my head? Why can't I bring myself to ask certain questions like this? I know he heard me! But, why? Did he ignore me on purpose? Why? Things like this is what makes me wonder if I'm really who I think I am... As I exit out the door, those thoughts change from ground to sky as if they're being obscured by clouds—lingering behind an obstructed view, only to then come out when I least expect it. 

* * * * *

Sam and I are currently walking down a fairly lit up alleyway. Every new building has a grease slathered dumpster sitting in front of a cleaner garage door, with each new garage door having a darker shade in appearance due to the position of the sun's entrance to the alleyway; there is a faint light at the end of the alleyway; however, it doesn't nearly fill up the alley due to the sun being more Westward.

Sam then whispers to me, "someone just opened up the blinds to the window of the first building of the alleyway, then on the second was when the garage door opened and nodded to the third building on the other side—to whom, I have no idea."

Well, shit! How? How many people and how much of a plan are they cooking up? The guy Bach is siding with did say to go down this way—the entrance to the Orange Gang's building. Hunter (like usual) is keeping guard on David whilst Sam and I are supposed to meet up with James and Bach. James is waiting at the entrance (just like in the plan), and Bach is on the inside negotiating the first step of the plan; the plan starts off (which Bach has been doing for some time now) with Bach acting as a double agent and acting the part of getting the rest of the squad grouped together for a meeting with the head of the Orange Gang--whom we're meeting right now.

"Ready?" James asks us as we arrive.

"Mhmm," Sam and I say at the same time.

"Alright then." 

James then knocks on the door three times, counts to five, then knocks three more times—this is the secret code to let the guard know that it is indeed us. The same big, tall, threatening man (the one that James sliced at in order to protect me way back when I first joined the squad) opened the door.

When he brute opens door, he realizes who is in front of him; his threatening face turns to anger.

"Iz a you two fwom befo?" the brute says as he cracks his knuckles and looks at us menacingly. 

I look to James, who is in a stance that only people in the streets know how to automatically take—one that says, "I know you're trying to fight me; I'm ready to defend myself, and I know how to defend myself." 

The brute then squares up on us and Sam blocks off the path between the brute and I. Then, the brute lifts up his fist to take a swing...


	26. OpIFP Part 2

The Brute, now outside on our side of the door, starts to take a swing at us; no! Not like this! We have a plan! Why is this guy here? When I open my eyes, I see Sam and James walking into the door—huh? Where? Where is the brute?

"You coming?" James asks me.

"B-bu-but where-"

"Hahah," Sam laughs. "You were so scared—which you do look cute when you are—that you didn't take the time to see Bach standing right behind the Brute and telling him off!" It's true. Bach is right ahead, in the building...

"Yo! You coming or not?" Bach asks.

"Su-yes-yes! I am coming!" Weird! How did I not notice? I mean, I know that Sam and James were also scared, but I was so scared that I couldn't even overcome this? Man, I still have a lot of work to do to be on par with the rest of the squad...

After walking a while through the building, Bach leads us up to what he refers to as the entrance to where the Orange Gang boss is; one of Bach's eyes is twitching again—which has been occurring ever since the encounter with that serial killer a while back. I choose not to tell him because when someone brings it up, he gets mad at said person when they do.

Bach, with his hand on the door, asks us if we're all ready; after we all say, "yes" in unison, he opens the door.

"Welcome!" says the man on the inside as soon as he's in our view; the man (whom I assume to be the Orange Gang leader) is sitting on top of a throne. The throne isn't one a king would sit on, but rather one that's made out of a few put together old metal plates (of which, are distinguishably out of place) with a rusty chair sitting on top; the chair seemingly holds all the awkward pieces together; there is a window behind the leader's chair, which he refers to simply as "a see through mirror."

"How are you three doing?" the leader asks.

"Great, and you?" James replies.

"That's wonderful; I'm doing fine as well," the leader says in an uninterested tone. "Could I offer any of you something to drink?" 

"No thank you," Sam says, whom seemingly understands the dangers that could arise from accepting such a risk.

"Actually, we'll have some water," James says. "After all, with a treaty of sorts like ours, we better put in some trust, yeah?" 

"Hah," says the leader. "Good choice."

After receiving the cup, James thanks the server, to then immediately put down his cup on the table in front of him; upon observing James' actions, Sam follows in pursuit, which is the hint I needed to put my cup on the table myself. When all this unfolded, I noticed how the leader was carefully watching us all this time; seeing all inconsistencies and openings possible while feigning his ignoring of them—a true and thorough deceit that's held by all shady people of this world—perfect for this type of job. 

The leader then says, "ah! I forgot! I'm sorry, where are my manners; my name is Tony. And your's?"

"I'm James and this is-"

"Let them introduce themselves," Tony says. Perfect—I see right through him; even a simple gesture such as forgetting to introduce yourself and apologizing for it—a very simple and courteous thing done by every sane mind—is used on unsuspecting victims—these type of people don't get you in one try—no! Every time they fail, they try something else! One subtle mistake will lead to your downfall—suspect everything and void nothing.

"Name's Sam," Sam says without any other of his usual words—I know Sam can be obnoxious at times—but, at times like these, he knows how to act—that's why he's in James' squad

"And I'm Trish," I say. He saw through it—Tony say through it; why doesn't he trust us? I thought Bach said he trusted us—well, you can never be too sure, right? People like these are the worst to deal with; James will have to do all to most of the talking—fate is the only deciding factor.

"Watering the flowers," Tony starts. "Towards the pigmented sky/Will a great crimson red be cast upon the earth-oh! Sorry! I often get lost in poetry! Do any of you do something with those minds of yours?"

"Hah! No—I don't do poetry; however, I do know that Trish keeps a journal, which, in her free time, she writes poetry in," James cheerfully replies. Huh? How did he know about that? I have very personal things in there! Now Tony is-wait! Yes! Just as Tony, James is playing the same game of doublespeak as him—fabulous. After regaining my composure, I choose not to fix my errors; but, rather, go along with them. After all, if you fix an error, it implies you've made an error—not correcting an error either implies you are ignoring or (with a slight possibility) you didn't make an error and is just who you are—when using doublespeak, you must take in all possibilities—even the impossible; heck, even I could be wrong about this whole situation; Tony could possibly be a really understanding and nice guy, but I'm choosing to interpret is as doublespeak—a hint of doublespeak may obscure a lack of doublespeak—or even worse, multiple layers of doublespeak; for every possibility, lies an impossibility—and those possibilities could be impossibilities and the impossibilities could be possibilities—with each impossibility and possibility having a new set of infinite paradoxical impossibilities and possibilities—and those, having their own infinite set, going on indefinitely—that, is the true power and scariness of a fluent speaker of doublespeak. Well, we'll see where this goes from here. Hopefully (according to Bach) we'll get through this—just not easily.


	27. OpIFP Part 3

Searching my see through soul,

Not knowing what I want,

Drought through my soul,

Emptiness nighttime seal—

Here rises the exiled Glass

Upon the Eastern gate of Saturdays

Is a poem I can remember that I wrote—oh, how true it is—or was. Hah! I do think it's good.

"Sorry!" Tony apologizes. "I completely forgot." Like I said earlier, nothing and everything could be used to gain an advantage; "the reason why members of our gang attacked you was, well, they weren't exactly the intelligent ones, know what I mean?" he then laughs, and James laughs in return.

"You see," continues Tony. "Usually I would completely demolish anything that so chooses to look in my gang's direction; however, because I already had an alliance with you lot, I will let this one pass; like I said, they weren't the smartest, right? You see, everyone in the gang is supposed to get word of any alliance, treaties, new enemies, or anything that changes within our gang within a few hours; however, the guy that was chasing you didn't get word of this because, well, the message hadn't been sent yet. He also barely abided by the gang's rules, which is absolute unity. Hell, Bach was even going to go set him straight, hence the dark cloak that he and a few others wore; you're also probably confused as to why Bach would attack someone that was in on the operation—well, to put it into simple terms—they weren't. Since you guys were early on in your alliance with us-" oh yeah, that's right! Tony was lead to believe (or at least I hope) that James was the original orchestrator of this entire operation; so, how did Bach pull it off? What is he hiding? Well, it's Bach; we don't have to worry because he is apart of our squad after all...

Tony continues his apology with, "so, the reason why the other two in the hooded cloaks with Bach weren't in on the operation is that they simply weren't; Bach, like I said (along with the other two) were going to go set him straight. The three wore dark cloaks because they needed to catch said gang member off guard; sure, he may be noncompliant, but he sure damn well knows how to operate in a gang—which is the only reason I keep him in his position, or even in the gang at all. So, when Bach and the other two came up to you all and saw (or at least the ones besides Bach) that the non complier was being outnumbered by you guys, they immediately took action. After a while, Bach had to deal with the situation and ultimately had to use the assassination squad to take care of him—which I don't care about in the slighest because, well, I wanted him dead, hahah! I just didn't want him dead enough to actually kill him myself!"

Jesus, this guy is crazy! I know Bach warned us of him, but he's actually willing to give up (albeit an almost unwanted one) member of his gang? What about the other two ones that were compliers?

There's a sudden break in Tony's laugh which is a sign (from my interpretation at least) as a que for his doublespeak. Yeah! I got this! Or maybe, he wanted me to see it; you see, doublespeakers will let you in on their use of doublespeak; when you think that you got them on an edge, it's all just a forelayer of doublespeak; no-not layer! With each new layer, comes one behind it until you get to the final layer; however, if you peel off one layer of doublespeak, that layer can and still will be used; there is no deducting or eliminating a "layer." Doublespeak, when done to perfection, will be an incomprehensible mishmash of maybes and what ifs; only the greatest minds will be able to even understand when someone is using true doublespeak—let alone comprehend it; no decipher in the world will be able to decipher this—not now, not then, not ever. Which makes the language of doublespeak the most frightening and dangerous language in the world—one could even change the course of history and make people believe in their beliefs no matter how unrealistic or even how absurd they are. A real life prime example of this is Adolf Hitler; he used his fluidity in doublespeak to fully turn the people of Nazi Germany into full fledged believers; however, Hitler had a really terrible understanding of doublespeak—a true doublespeaker would have convinced the whole world of what he did—even with the limited technology of his time. There is even a quote going around (by an unknown individual or when it was even said) that goes as, "doublespeak—when mastered—will let it's user (from any background) be able to conquer the entire world; he who truly masters doublespeak, will speak the language of the gods."


	28. OpIFP Part 4

Eastward bridges,

Flickering burn,

Ancient gates rise,

Cast a shadow upon the 

Deathly tides

Why are all of my poetry coming back to me? Is it because James mentioned them? Maybe... Anyways, Tony seems to be showing an error—an error, that if you latch on to, will lead to his downfall; like I said earlier, latching onto an error (let alone realizing one) will give you the gain in the war. A war indeed; after all, in Sun Tzu's "The Art of war," he states that the victor of a battle is decided before the battle actually starts. However, Sun Tzu's work doesn't just apply to warfare, it also applies to the art of doublespeak—know your opponent, observe them, watch every little nuance in their behavior. Even Mohammad Ali used this to a degree in his legendary career: he would eye his opponent from their arrival in the arena all the way to their defeat in order to intimidate them. Tony, whom was doing this from the beginning (as James was as well), somehow, by some wondrous misstep, took his eyes off of us. A misstep indeed because when an opponent took even a single glance away from the eyes of Mohammad Ali, he knew that he would win. Since Tony took his eyes off of James, James now seemingly has the lead. Tony realizes this. Oh, how he realizes this. However, he may understand the fact that we do—after all, as I keep reiterating (and to the utmost emphasis) you can never ever be sure with doublespeak. Even the best user of the language can't easily interpret doublespeak. As I said before, a person who truly masters doublespeak is said to speak the language of the gods. Only speak, they are not considered one. Yes, it's true (although thought to be utterly impossible), that one who can interpret doublespeak, is a god. After all, only gods are able to interpret gods...

Since Tony made a mistake, I want to call it out—oh, how I want to! However, I mustn't! If I do call out Tony's mistake (whether intentional or not), he will recover: if it was intentional, he already has a plan in store; if it wasn't intentional, he'll use the mistake as a gateway to another deceit. If you make a mistake, then the caller out will feel as if they got you; however, if you use that sense of self worth from them, you can turn it on them and use a different deceit (referring to how there's not only an unlimited number of layers, but how one can go back to a used layer an unlimited amount of times). 

James looks to Bach, which Bach nods—the que to start the assissination of Tony; after all, what operation cannot function without a leader? Tony did notice the exchange between James and Bach; however, like us, Tony also has to go through an unlimited set of what ifs and what nots. One thing seems off though... James seemingly saw it too—Bach is acting a little unnatural—he's not acting like his true self. Why? What could be the problem? 

Bach (whom is situated to the right of Tony [our left]) is seemingly responding like a limosine; what's taking him so long? He should've started the attack by now, right? I look over to James, he seems to be thinking the same. 

"Hey, why'd it get all quiet?" Tony asks. There now seems to be a faint discomfort in his voice as if he knows that something is awry... Well, there is, but not our way. C'mon Bach! You're the one who orchestrated this whole thing! There's also Tony who seemingly thinks something's gone wrong as well. So, I guess we're good then. So, Bach, we're waiting for you! We can't start anything until you do your que—your the catalyst of this whole operation! 

"Do it, Bach," Tony says. Huh?

After a brief silence, Tony gets off his throne that looks as if it was going to fall apart due to the force that Tony launched himself off at, but, miraculously, the pile stays in tact.

"Fine!" Bach shouts. My heart is racing; everything is going by fast; not a single second is missed—I feel as if I can comprehend anything. 

"What the hell is going on!" James shouts.

Bach then takes out a gun—something that we don't have in our squad—and points it to James.

That... That... Bach... Words won't describe what I feel—I don't have time to feel with all this anger swirling through my body! Bach! Bach has...! Bach has betrayed us!


	29. OpIPF Part 5

"What are you doing?" Tony asks the person whom just betrayed us—someone that I, that we trusted; why would Bach do this? No! It can't be! Why?

"Bach! What are you doing?" James demandingly shouts.

"Hah!" Bach shouts. Bach, whom I can't describe what's going on right now, lowers his gun.

"Well, guess who isn't who you think they were!" Tony mockingly says to us. Tony then goes over one of the more darkly stained metal pieces and reveals a secret compartment—hollow. It's hollow. Inside the hollow metal plate lies a gun; Tony picks up the gun and walks over to where James, Sam, and I are sitting. We have no protection—nothing; or at least nothing to protect us against a gun! 

"Heh!" Tony mocks. "Well, you see-" CLICK, goes a gun

"Hah ahahahah!" Tony turns around. "Yes. I knew it! I knew you'd never actually betray them!" A dud! Tony put nothing but dead bullets in Bach's gun! "Well, I guess now's a good-" Tony then turns around, pulls his arm up, and shoots Bach directly in the head. 

Death... Death... Death... Dead... dead... he... he's... he's dead... Bach... Bach is dead! No! How? Why? So, he didn't actually betray us? Then... our last message to Bach was actually a hate filled distaste over us thinking that he betrayed us? No... how... how can... how can it be... Anger. Anger is all I feel. We have-no we must... we must avenge Bach! He was the mastermind behind this whole thing! He was pulling the strings! James knows it! Oh, how James-no, not just James-even Sam! We all know what to do! There he is! Tony! Tony is right in front of is! Close enough for his aim (albeit, we don't know how good it is) to be thrown off, but close enough for us to make a move with our petty switchblades. Dead... Tony is dead... who? Who killed him? A bullet shot? Yes, I didn't seem to hear it go off, but I'm pretty sure it did... None of us have guns... Then, who does? 

A figure then walks out of the shadows. No! Not him! It can't be! There's no way the boss would get involved in this situation! Hah! I was right! It's just Hunter! What's he saying? Run? Run to where? Why must I run? No, I think I'll stay right here with all of my-my-where is everyone?

"What the hell are you doing Trish?" James shouts as Sam is shaking me. Why? Why are they-no! It is him! He is here! The boss is here! Bach is dead, Tony is dead, Hunter is-well I can just hope for the best of him, and the boss-well, the boss was the whole puppeteer behind this whole operation!


	30. OpIFP Part 6 (including Run Like Hell Part 1/Goodbye Friend)

Dream... a dream... a dream! I wish this were all a dream! Please! I beg! Oh god, I beg to you! Please let this all be a dream! How... how can it be... how can it be that one of our family members is dead? I don't believe it! I don't want to believe it! However, we must continue forward without looking back. But how? How do we-

"Hand Trish over now!" the boss demands.

"No!" is the first noise that James can muster up.

"Fine; I'll force her over myself!" The boss then starts to walk over to us. Then, like I expected, Sam rushes towards the boss to protect me.

"No!" I shout. "Sam, it's OK. I will go with the boss if it means that no one else will get hurt," I say behind my mask. A mask indeed as this one is the most important—one that all will see past, but none will question and all will go along with; no one will call it out because they simply can't; everyone understands that if you do, it will be for naught—simply futile.

"Trish! No!" James shouts. "This is exactly what he wants!"

"No, really!" I reply. "I mean it! If it means that everyone else will be safe, I'm perfectly happy with handing myself over to the boss."

"But-" 

"No, I mean it Sam," I say.

"Trish," James starts. "I know that when you have something such as this on your mind, you wont back out of it; so, if it's the only way, then I'll be happy to oblige—I trust you. So, please. Please! I just want you to know that I lo-"

The next thing I know is the boss being flung forward. James then grabs onto me and runs out the door as we're being followed by Sam.

"Yous up an' kill 'im!" shouts the Brute from earlier.

"Goddammit Franklin!" the boss shouts at the brute. No. Thank you Franklin! Thanks to you, we are able to get away! The last sight I bear witness to before rounding the corner is of the boss turning around and shooting Franklin. Goodbye friend.


	31. Run Like Hell Part 2

"Sam! Run ahead and open the door!" James demands.

"Aye!" Sam replies as he picks up his pace to open the door so James can lead a stunned me outside the building as safely as possible.

Once outside (and once I regain my consciousness), I start speaking: "All right," I say. "Now that we're outside the building, we may have a chance to attack the boss—he may have his guard lowered now due to the-"

"No!" Sam says in an unusual disagreement of my thoughts.

"You gotta be kidding me if you wanna go back in there!" Sam responds. "The boss took an entire fisted club from Franklin to then instantly recover! Why-no how do you think we'll be able to fight that? Our best bet right now is to run away—get Hunter—and come back with a plan." As the words leave Sam's lips, I feel attacked—no! No! I actually don't feel attacked; the past me would've felt attacked, but not the current me! Even if it was Sam whom was the one that said that (whom I honestly don't mind his joking), I still don't care! Hah, I can do anything now! Now, now is the time to defeat the boss!

I look up at James—a concrete look of disapproval is spread throughout his gaze. No! He's right! Now isn't the time to fight the boss! What was I thinking? I always seem to look to James for approval on things, so maybe I should look to more than just him... maybe... just maybe... maybe... maybe I'm the one that I need to start getting my approval from?

"All right! Let's head home," I say—I'll think about it later. The concrete face of James still happens to be wet as it gets reformed into a half smirk.

"I like it," James tells me. "Alright," James says as his focus now includes Sam. "We have to get back to Hunter and David immediately before the boss gets to-"

Sam then takes hold of my arm as James reads his que for the three of us to run away from what I can perceive as (although only after Sam pointed it out with his amazing sense of hearing) the boss walking down the corridor which leads to the entrance the three of us were in front of earlier. We head West down the alley—the sun in our eyes—as the setting sun is seen going under the horizon.


	32. Goodbye friend (Coda)

"I see..." Hunter says upon hearing the news on Bach. After a brief piece of silence, Hunter says, "I'm sorry you guys had to witness that... I guess it means that we now have to take out the boss..." After some more silence Hunter goes on to say, "so, Trish, you said you felt something when Bach died, right?"

"Ah, yes," I let out in a bit of a stutter. "I felt like I could understand everything the more the sequence of events went on—I could understand everyone and everything—I've never felt anything like it before..."

After what I can guess was a brief internal digestion of what I just said, Hunter says to me, "well, I believe what you experienced was death's scythe—you could feel everything because your body needed to; in order to protect itself, your body needed to comprehend every possible escape route and/or way to attack—every human's basic survival tactic when in desperate need."

"OK, but why is that important," Sam asks.

"Good question. Good question indeed," Hunter replies. "Well, you see, if one of us is able to 'unlock' death's scythe, we may have an advantage in the fight."

"What are you going to do about the assassination squad?" asks a David that's been secluded away from us yet is still listening to the conversation.

As I look around the room, I see that everyone else—James, Sam, Hunter—all have the same expressions that I have on right now.

David then gets a panicked look lashed upon him for James to calmly say, "no, thank you. I knew we were forgetting something—something crucial to our plan; something that we need to know—I guess we were all wrapped up in the whole Bach sit-" James stutterly says; when James is finally able to regain his composure, he continues with, "well, all I can say is that I'm grateful for your company—you're really a life saver David!"

"Oh, you don't need to thank me like-"

"Hah, we really do mean it David," James replies.

James then sits down in his chair, points to me and says, "Trish, you were about to go with the boss and leave us here all alone! I won't let you do anything like that in the future, you hear? Nothing; if you pull something like that again-well, something will happen!"

"What!?!?!" I complain. "You told me that I could go with him!"

"Trish," James sternly says, which makes me shut up and listen to him. "I said, don't pull something off like that again, OK?"

I stutter at the unfairness that James has brought forth; however, I must comply—you can't rebel against everything. "All right," I reluctantly say.

"Good. Thank you, and remember this from here on out, OK?"

"OK." Man, I don't even know what I would be going through right now if I actually went with the boss—thank god I didn't... The only reason that I didn't actually go was because of Franklin—thank god for him; he never had the intention of helping us, in fact he always tried to attack us; after always wishing him away, I am now glad that I met him way back on the streets when we got attacked by his gang when I first joined James' squad. So, I guess people that hate you and want to hurt you can actually in return do some help; however it cost him his life... Anyway, like I said, I'm glad Franklin ended up helping us—it's the reason why I'm here with my family in the first place. So, Franklin, goodbye—thank you...

Goodbye friend.


	33. The Silver Sniper Part 1

Time to set out; time to set out on our journey to finally take the boss' life. Hunter came up with a plan to take out the boss which involves something he described as "death's scythe."

"When you are in mortal danger of dying, your body instinctively has a sort of self defense—it makes you aware of anything and everything—such a thing is important in set circumstances so you can sense every and any possible danger and/or escape route..." is the gist of what Hunter described. But, how? How will we get me—the one who's already experienced it firsthand to be able to experience it again? I do remember Hunter saying it takes certain circumstances to activate it... so, what circumstances will I need to go through to experience "death's scythe" once again? Well, I guess our only option is to wait and find out when we actually do fight the boss...

"Trish~~~!!!"

"Wuah-"

"You coming or not?" asks a Sam questioning a me that's lost in thought. "C'mon, I know I'm that good looking, but I didn't know I was that-"

"Yes! I am coming! And NO! I wasn't thinking about you!"

Everyone in the room screams as a bullet is heard that shatters the glass window—dead. He's dead... David is dead!

"Let's go!" James shouts. No! Why? Why is everyone dying? I don't want anyone else to die! I want life to be what it used to be! Why can't it be like it used to be? The time a little after I joined and before I went Bach... Bach... No! Bach didn't die for nothing! He died to place us further! His death allowed us to understand how to take out the boss—something that we wouldn't've known how to do without him!

As we are leaving the room, Hunter doesn't want to leave-crying. He's crying... Why? Why? Why must everything go wrong? If I never joined James' squad-no! James' squad was still going to take out the boss for their own personal reasons; it was me who gave them a better opportunity to do so! We must go! So, Hunter-Hunter... dead... no! He's not... Hunter was in shock at the death of-of-well-dammit, now I'm tearing up! However, James was able to tackle Hunter before the bullet, which I knew was coming because of the window (next one over from the first one) got shot through! I could've saved Hunter's life, but I didn't! Luckily, we have someone like James as the leader of our squad!

"Hunter! Let's go!" James is shouting at Hunter. "C'mon, man! That guy's apart of the assassination squad and has a sniper right on us! We have to go quick!" nothing...

James then punches Hunter, which seemingly (and which we're all grateful for) brings Hunter back to his senses. Another shot whizzes by us. It... it would've hit James square in the face if Hunter wouldn't've recovered as soon as he did. We-we have-we have to get out of here! This sniper is crazy! It-it must be-it must be Maxwell "The Silver Sniper;" he's one of three members of the assassination squad; he is said to have dead on accuracy—our only chance of evasion is the unknown—such as it's been so far. The only way we are able to not get hit by the bullets from "The Silver Sniper," is to make a future that is not foreseeable. Maxwell is not a fool—he is able to shoot moving targets, however, he's not able to shoot things he can't predict will have an outcome that he doesn't know. Our one and only way of defeating him is to keep evading with unforeseeable outcomes until we corner him and defeat him! Yes, I do think this is the best route of defeating the boss; the assassination squad couldn't have come at any better time. You see, right now, we have no way of defeating someone as powerful as the boss; however, if we train on fighting people that are just a step lower (that are still a hard fight, but are still feasible) we may just be able to unlock death's scythe!


	34. The Silver Sniper Part 2

Down in the city below, Hunter, Sam, James, and I are trying to escape Maxwell "The Silver Sniper." We have to try to stay out of his line of sight; but first, we must find out where he even is attacking us from! We spent some time getting down to the opposite side of the apartment so Maxwell won't be able to take a shot at us; so, where... where is he? He could shoot at us at any moment... from any corner... one of us... one of us could drop dead... I shudder just thinking about it...

Now, the rest of the surviving squad found an opening to look through; it's in the apartment's parking garage (which is located underground); we are able to see through the air vent to the other side of the street from where David was shot...

"From the trajectory, (which, being a sniper, means it could only come from straight on) the guy must be in that building over there," Sam says as he points to the building on the other side of the street. "Now, I know you all know that, but the question is, from what window?"

"Oh, that's right!" I say out loud.

"What is it Trishy?" Sam asks.

"Well, I saw the bullet shooting through the glass coming straight on before it almost hit James... James... I'm sorry," I begin to cry. "I'm sorry, if you weren't so lucky, you'd be dead all because of me!" I try to say despite it being immensely hard to do so because I'm choking on my tears.

"No!" James sharply replies. "You didn't save me simply because you couldn't; even if I wasn't so lucky, it still wouldn't have been your fault; you see, you shouldn't blame yourself if any of us die; some of us have already died, however, we're still moving along! You must do the same! If you think my death would've been unjust, I assume you also believe that Bach's death was also unjust? Death doesn't come without injustices—there's always at least one person that doesn't agree with the death of someone; we must realize that every one of us is in on this together—we all have the same goal! If I die, I died knowing that I lived enough of a successful life to impact you and everyone else in the squad—I hope you feel the same as me! I really do; you mean a lot to me—same with everyone else in the squad. Also, if I die, I know my request of taking out the boss will be passed on to the rest of you—we all want it and will do anything—including death—to succeed in doing so—I know you feel the same; if I die, I'm still not down!"

After a brief pause, Sam asks me, "so, Trishy, what were you going to say about the window?"

"Oh! That's right! I forgot... Well, since I saw the bullet coming straight on, he must be in the room directly across from David's!"

"Ah, that's makes sense!" Sam exclaims. "Then, since David lived on the fourth floor (being about the fourth to fifth windows from left to right [when looking at the building from the one that Maxwell's in]), he should be on the fourth floor, fourth from the right (when looking from David's apartment)."

"Alright, now, we have to find out how to get there undetected," James says.

"Easy," Sam replies. "We just have to go the long way."

"The long way..." I mutter in confusion.

"Hah, that's cute Trishy; well, we just have to go that way," Sam says as he points in the opposite direction of the building that Maxwell's in. "Then, all's we have to do is go in a big circle so we're going to end up being on the other side of the other building."

"Ah, I like it!" Hunter says.

"Heh," James starts speaking to Sam. "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to promote you to field investigator!"

Sam blushes and replies with, "hehheh. Thanks, I guess. As long as-"

"Nope! I will not be serving under you!" I say. Heh, shows him.

"Uhh... no... I was not going to say anything about that in the slightest," Sam tells me as my face turns bright red.

"I was actually going to say that I will be field investigator as long as I am accompanied by an accomplice—you may be one of them, but if you don't want to, I won't make you-"

"No no no!" I stagger to get my words in. "That's fine! You don't have to choose me, however, I'd be willing to go with you though!" I say as Sam smiles. Sure, one can argue that Sam was trying to get me to be on his side, but I believe that Sam is actually a really nice person and only wishes for the best in the squad—possibly the most genuine person in this squad; it takes a certain amount of guts to say the things he says to me (or stupidity?); but, no, I don't believe he will ever have any ill-intent to anyone unless he morally deems them worthy of his wrath—which is why I like him. Well, I guess it's time to continue on our long journey of taking out the boss. But, first up, we must deal with Maxwell "The Silver Sniper!"


	35. The Silver Sniper Part 3

The hill that's seemingly too steep to climb—we've climbed it; yes, we are on our way to take out the boss of the mafia in Mapletree, North Dakota—someone that everyone in our squad despises.

James, Sam, Hunter, and I have now got to the other end of the building Maxwell is in without him shooting at us—we enter the building.

There are a total of four people in the lobby (Maxwell's room was on the back): there is the desk receptionist on the East side of the lobby, there is an old couple sitting next to each other on a bench on the West side of the lobby, while we entered on the North side. There—like I said—are four people in the lobby; the fourth person passed us and left the building when we entered—there remains three.

We then go up the stairs to find out that Maxwell was shooting out of the hallway window—he wasn't in any of the rooms.

"James?" asks Sam.

"Yes, you're right," James replies. "Since he was firing from the hallway window, he doesn't have a room, since, if he did, this would be a very stupid decision due to him having more cover and most importantly—any random person could come up from behind him. So, you are right.... Maxwell was one of the people we ran into in the lobby."

"Hmm... He is apart of the three membered assassination squad, so he must be good at that kind of stuff..." adds Hunter.

"Alright," James starts. "I guess we have no other option but to go down there now." We then head to the stairs.

Once at the bottom, we are introduced to a new person. He is walking straight at us. Once he is close to us, he holds out his hand and introduces himself. "Hello," he says. "My name is Maxwell 'The Silver Hammer;' It's a pleasure to meet you." Then he walks up the stairs to the higher levels.

What? He... he-he is-no-he just can't pull something like that, can he? How-I'm confused; I'm perplexed; is he? How? How is he? What is he?

"Wait," yells Hunter. "Get your ass back here right now!"

Maxwell then seems to be covered in fear; something seems off...

"I said get your ass over here right now!" Hunter demands in a voice I never heard him use before. I feel bad... I feel bad for Hunter... Out of all of us, Hunter was the closest to David....

"Wuh-wuh-what do you want?" Maxwell shakingly asks in fear.

"What?" at this point Hunter is fuming. "You dare act this petty after what you just did to us?"

"I don't know who you are! I promise! The guy that just left this building after you entered paid me $100 to walk up to you and introduce myself as Maxwell 'The Silver Hammer.' I promise! I have no say in it! I just really needed the money!"

Hunter then turns around and storms out of the building screaming, "Maxwell! Where are you!"

James, Sam, and I then notice the scene we have made. James tries to apologize on our behalf to the old couple and tries to apologize to the receptionist, but she is not present; James then has Sam and I go after Hunter. Once outside, we find Hunter standing over the corpse of Maxwell—or at least what we think is; the corpse is so torn and beaten that it's hard to tell what it is.

"Hunter," Sam shocking says on my behalf. "What..."

"It wasn't me..." Hunter grunts under his breath. "It was like this when I came here... I don't believe that this was Maxwell..." Gunshots. Not just any ordinary gunshots; no, the kind of gunshots that are ingrained in one's memory after hearing them—the rippling cry through the air to the connection of one's flesh... that bullet was on from "The Silver Sniper."

Immediately, Hunter, Sam, and I rush back to the apartment with one thought in mind—James... Oh god! I can't! I can't lose another one of my family! Oh god, no! We then go inside to see the guy from earlier (the one that was falsely named Maxwell) laying on the floor dead. James is nowhere to be seen and the only people that remain are the old couple from earlier quivering in fear.

"Dear..." says the old lady. "What did you just do?" What could this brittle old man have done? He's seemingly quivering in fear just the same as the old lady!

"What do you mean? Someone... someone just... got... shot!" The old man shakily replies.

"But..." replies the old lady. "But-but-but you were the one that shot him... Why...? Why did you do it? He was just being friend-" the old man then swiftly takes out a switchblade and stabs the lady in the neck. He smirks.

"Heh, guess my cover's been blown," the old man says as he struggles to get a good footing as he stands up.

Sam, Hunter, and I stand there, only for our perplexion to be stopped by the old man saying, "I am Maxwell 'The Silver Sniper.' Like my trickery? I was going to take out James over there behind the reception desk, but James was lucky enough to be saved by that 'hero' over there, diving in front of my bullet! Heh!"


End file.
